Controlling Internet Use: A Contemporary Way of Excluding People With Intellectual Disabilities? Mapping and Understanding Internet Use in Sweden From a Critical Perspective

The internet has become very central to today’s society. The aim of this scoping review was to map internet use among people with an intellectual disability (ID) in Sweden, and to scrutinise the phenomenon from a critical perspective. The concepts of digital divide, digital inequality, social construction of intellectual disability, and power relations were applied to conceptualise the empirical material. The results showed that people with ID have limited access to the internet. A discrepancy in approaches towards internet use was identified. Generally, people with ID subscribe to a positive view of the internet. Among professionals a generally pessimistic view was instead identified. People with ID are described as a vulnerable and naive group, who presumably cannot protect themselves from the risks the internet entails. From a critical perspective, control of internet access could strengthen asymmetric power, and human rights of social participation are withheld from people with ID.