Digital Disability Divide in Finland

The modern societies have become more and more digitalized during recent years. Owning a digital device and accessing internet at home are part of everyday life, while many essential services, such as banking, are offered through internet. However, advances in digital technologies have not affected everybody similarly and there can still be groups of people who do not use internet on daily bases. Hence, we concentrates on studying the digital divide from specific viewpoint – the one of people with disabilities. Prior studies indicate that their possibilities to access and use internet are lower than for people without disabilities. This gap is referred as digital disability divide.

This study employs a quantitative approach to analyse digital disability divide in technologically advanced society. Our data is retrieved from a nationwide survey, which was conducted in Finland during years 2012–2015 by National Institute for Health and Welfare. The data was analysed regarding two main aspects: access to internet and use of internet. The analyses focused on people with disabilities and their family members. The results indicate that both access rate and usage of internet are lower among them than the rest of the population.