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The use of the personal home page by adults with Down's Syndrome as a tool for managing identity and friendship

The use of the personal home page by adults with Down's Syndrome as a tool for managing identity and friendship
The use of the personal home page by adults with Down's Syndrome as a tool for managing identity and friendship
There has been considerable debate regarding whether people with a learning disability should be encouraged to develop friendships with disabled or nondisabled people and what influence this might have on their sense of identity. It is also increasingly recognized that the Personal Home Page is a useful tool for making contact with potential friends and for managing identity. This paper explores the extent to which people with Down's syndrome are using Personal Home Pages to make and maintain friendships and, thus, say something about the self-image they wish to portray. The Personal Home Pages of five Internet Service Providers were sampled and 16 Personal Home Pages of adults with Down's syndrome were found that referred in some way to friendships. A thematic analysis of these pages indicated that the authors could be attempting to present an image of themselves as someone who is capable of having friends. Analysis of the guest-book messages also revealed that the readers of the Home Pages were responding to these attempts at initiating a relationship. Further work needs to be done to develop the sampling methodology in order to enable further exploration of what influences the publication of these Home Pages.
down's syndrome, friends, identity, Internet, learning disability, relationships
1354-4187
142 - 148
Seale, Jane K.
ba7466b6-f6d8-42fd-885c-0f3067acc49c
Pockney, Rebecca
8b0d2ade-910d-43e5-a9e9-1d29bbd68c16
Seale, Jane K.
ba7466b6-f6d8-42fd-885c-0f3067acc49c
Pockney, Rebecca
8b0d2ade-910d-43e5-a9e9-1d29bbd68c16

Seale, Jane K. and Pockney, Rebecca (2002) The use of the personal home page by adults with Down's Syndrome as a tool for managing identity and friendship. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30 (4), 142 - 148. (doi:10.1046/j.1468-3156.2002.00195.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

There has been considerable debate regarding whether people with a learning disability should be encouraged to develop friendships with disabled or nondisabled people and what influence this might have on their sense of identity. It is also increasingly recognized that the Personal Home Page is a useful tool for making contact with potential friends and for managing identity. This paper explores the extent to which people with Down's syndrome are using Personal Home Pages to make and maintain friendships and, thus, say something about the self-image they wish to portray. The Personal Home Pages of five Internet Service Providers were sampled and 16 Personal Home Pages of adults with Down's syndrome were found that referred in some way to friendships. A thematic analysis of these pages indicated that the authors could be attempting to present an image of themselves as someone who is capable of having friends. Analysis of the guest-book messages also revealed that the readers of the Home Pages were responding to these attempts at initiating a relationship. Further work needs to be done to develop the sampling methodology in order to enable further exploration of what influences the publication of these Home Pages.

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More information

Published date: 2002
Keywords: down's syndrome, friends, identity, Internet, learning disability, relationships

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 18031
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/18031
ISSN: 1354-4187
PURE UUID: eabce442-82f2-4672-89ec-5aacdf96bda4

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Date deposited: 24 Nov 2005
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:02

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Contributors

Author: Jane K. Seale
Author: Rebecca Pockney

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