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Stigmatization is a complex process that emerges in manifold forms in a variety of social contexts. This paper sheds light on people with intellectual disabilities (ID) who are often affected by numerous negative prejudices which can lead to restrictions of human rights and various forms of social discrimination. This qualitative focus group study aims to examine perceived stigmatization experiences by people with ID when using and accessing the Internet. Besides, this study focuses on respondents’ behavior and coping strategies to deal with perceived stigmatizations. Therefore, data from a focus group study with 50 participants with ID (23 males, 27 females, aged between 18 and 35) conducted in 2018 was secondary analyzed for this paper. Findings show that participants are well aware of stigmatization by their social environment (e.g., parents, caregivers). Issues include incompetence, lack of media literacy, weak cognitive skills and low decision making abilities. The results also indicate that participants react in different ways to perceived stigmatization. In this paper, we analyze behavior characteristics and arrange them into three different user types: “the Anxious Avoider, “the Help-Seeking-Realist”, and “the Confident All-Rounder”. The three different types differ in terms of Internet usage and coping strategies.

Intuitive handling, mobile internet access, and a large number of applications make smartphones extremely popular devices. Smartphones promise particularly high potentials for various marginalized groups. This explorative case study examines formal caregivers’ attitudes towards smartphone usage and internet access by people with cognitive disabilities. Due to the close relationship to their clients, it is assumed that caregivers support or prevent smartphone usage of people with cognitive disabilities depending on their attitudes and experiences. The aim of this study is to examine which particular factors influence caregiver’s attitudes towards smartphone usage. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews with formal caregivers were conducted between January and December 2018 in Germany. This paper discusses the main findings on the background of psychological and technological theories of technology acceptance and personal-growth, including self-determination-theory.