Connection is more than just a click By Jodie van de Wetering
Can we change the world with a click and a share? Engaging in online activism can't replace putting a face to a name or chatting over a cuppa, but it can help some people with disability to participate and it can still get things done, writes Jodie van de Wetering. The internet has trickled into every corner of our lives, influencing everything from how we shop and play and chat with friends, to how we earn a living. It's also potentially opening up a rich, new avenue for public awareness and activism work. Or is it? Can we change the world with a click and a share, or is online activism but a fleeting shadow of work done in the physical world? Online activism can come in many guises. On one hand, old-school tools like letter writing and petitions have been given a new way to circulate and gain momentum, and there are fresh digital canvases for political satire. On the other, new means of voicing an opinion have developed, from advice animals to "like/share/re-pin if you support..." memes designed to show solidarity and spread awareness. Through blogs and forums, the internet also gives people with disability and other minority groups a way to find each other and build a support network that's not always possible in real life. With Autism Spectrum Disorder affecting one Aussie in a hundred, for instance, there are potentially more than 600 other people in my hometown who are somewhere on the autism spectrum. There might even be a few of similar age and situation and outlook to me. But I don't know any of them. I've looked for them, but the Aspie can be a discreet and solitary creature not easily discovered. Online, however, it can be much easier to find a community where you belong. There isn't just one online disability community but myriad, inhabited by different people and serving different purposes from support to snark. Online activism has pluses and minuses, just like similar work in the physical world. The internet lets people get involved in public discussion and debate without needing to be physically present. Online, there are ways you can participate regardless of family, work or study commitments, geography, shyness, health, or the accessibility of the venue. It can be done by stealth, under an assumed name if necessary. The many different ways people express themselves online means there are tools to suit many different means of communication, from video blogging to text-based conversations that give the participants more time to process the information and compose a reply than conversations in person allow. A potential downside is accessibility; not just the accessibility of individual websites but access to the internet itself. By moving too much of the public conversation about disability and related topics to online spaces, do we risk fencing out people who have a stake in the issue but not the resources to take part? And since your likelihood of being online decreases with your income and level of education, those left outside the walled garden may be the most vulnerable, the voices that most need to be heard. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us 83 per cent of Australians used the internet in 2012-2013, a figure that continues to climb, so perhaps those concerns are less grounded than a few years ago. Then there's the question of whether a share or a like, without offline action to complement them, achieves anything at all. Other than make us feel like we've done something useful, will a tweet or a shared meme on our Facebook wall get the attention of our local MP the way a letter on their desk would? The sheer volume of traffic on the internet can make it very hard for any individual voice to be heard above the endless cacophony of digital noise. There's always another tweet, another meme, another issue to snatch readers' attention away. Online, you're not just competing against other speakers or letters but against every cat video, every app that lets you put cartoon moustaches on your friends' photos, and every piece of My Little Pony/Breaking Bad crossover fan art. Such things are less likely to present distractions when you're talking to someone in person. Despite the many changes and advantages the internet has brought, there is still a place for physical togetherness. An email to People with Disability Australia confirmed that even for events and gatherings where online conferencing is available, people still travel great distances to attend in person, despite the expense and logistics involved. You might be able to watch a speaker online or browse their slides, but you miss the chance to talk to your fellow attendees over a cuppa, to meet people you'd never find on Facebook because you don't know they exist to look them up. Fresh connections form between people as we mingle around waiting for our go at the urn, and fresh connections form between the ideas we share during idle conversation over a tray of sandwiches. The internet has given us wonderful new ways to network, but even as a massive nerd with a clinically significant degree of social ineptitude, I have to admit it can't replace free-range in-person human interaction. Participation online opens new doors for people who may not always be able to participate in physical spaces, and can provide an amplifier for voices usually silenced in mainstream debate. It may not be the new way to get things done, but it's certainly a new way to get things done. Jodie van de Wetering is a writer, Aspie (person with Aspergers) and massive nerd based in Central Queensland. Source: http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2014/06/16/4025975.htm -- With best regards, Sanchit Katiyar. E-Mail: [email protected] Skype ID: sanchit.katiyar11 facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sanchit.katiyar.5 Mobile: +919013816320. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. 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