E-services for the social inclusion of people with disabilities : A literature review

BACKGROUND: It is assumed that e-services support persons with disabilities in their everyday life by improving communication and interaction with healthcare organizations and whilst facilitating their social inclusion. AIM: The aim of this study is to examine the contribution of e-services in terms of how they diminish barriers and constraints on social inclusion. METHOD: A literature review was performed, covering the period between 2010 and 2016 (6 years). Only studies that discussed the social inclusion of people with disabilities or presented prototype solutions to this problem were included. RESULTS: The results of this study show that there is a lack of theoretical framework which can be used to measure the effectiveness of the e-services or innovations in the area of e-services in the contexts that were examined. The existing research studies are normally generic and do not discuss whether the requirements that are imposed on a particular e-service differ depending on (i) type of disability, (ii) the ICT-maturity or skill of the end-user, or (iii) context in which the e-service will be used. In general, previous research in this area claims that e-services do assist people with disabilities access to society (defined as the community in which they live), even when no evidence is actually presented about the impact such services have in this area of the end-user's life. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study present us with new knowledge about the types of ICT-based innovations and e-services that have been proposed to facilitate the social integration of people with disabilities.