The Relationship between online social networking and offline social participation among people with disability in Lithuania

People with disabilities are one of the targeted groups that have social participation restrictions due to the disabling barriers that exist in real world physical and social environments. Growing evidence from analyses of online social network site usage suggests that these sites could complement to and enhance people's networks of relationships present in the offline world by providing a platform for active communication between friends, acquaintances and other people in a network. However, it is important to know how people with disabilities self-assess online social networking as a means to overcome restrictions for social participation. The research objectives focused on the relationship between online social networking and offline social participation among people with motor, visual and hearing disabilities. The study aims to investigate the evaluation of the usefulness of social activity in OSN, types, frequency and motives of online social networks activity among people with disabilities and how it is related to their disability forms and the level of offline social participation restriction. For the purposes of the study a national representative survey of people with disabilities (18 years and older) who use social network sites, was conducted by Baltic Surveys Ltd, in June-July, 2014. Results of the statistical analysis showed that that evaluation of OSN as a facilitator of social involvement is quite high, but is only weakly positively correlated to offline participation. There are positive correlation between offline participation restrictions and motives to expand one‘s social network and to seek out people with similar disabilities. However, in Lithuania people with disabilities have a relatively not very high use of OSN as facilitated opportunities to compensate their offline participation restriction and to enhance their social capital