Digital comics reading program for reducing the digital exclusion of people with hearing impairments

Abstract

The paper explores experiences of people with hearing impairments that facilitate their digital inclusion. It is based on the case study of the educational program in digital reading and creating of comics in the Šiauliai municipal public library in Lithuania. Eleven deaf and partially hearing respondents and two trainers participated in the research. The data were collected by means of graphic questionnaire survey, a focus group with the deaf and hard-of-hearing respondents and the semi-structured interviews of the trainers. The findings showed that the digital reading program reinforced personally significant behavior to deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. It resulted in high motivation and engagement with the course content. The training helped the respondents to get oriented in the rapidly changing digital technologies and to acquire useful ICT skills and knowledge to make more informed choices of digital tools in future. They also learned about digital means for visual communication to support their personal interaction in future. The research revealed that deaf and hard-of-hearing people were active users of the digital technologies and they did not experience physical barriers in accessing the basic ICT equipment. Obstacles in ICT use were related to gaps in general literacy skills.