Social media use of disabled people in Turkey practices: A historical materialist approach

It is clear that social media has become a vital element in how we communicate with each other. Networks are increasingly integrated into our daily lives through the proliferation of smartphones and the integration of social media applications that now form the backbone of many of these platforms. While social media is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, its impact on people with disabilities remains largely unexplored. For this reason, the usage practices in the processes that occur with the introduction of social media into our lives require focusing on disabled users. Based on a historical analysis methodology in its theoretical framework, this critical thesis has a view of how the social, economic, political, cultural and intellectual developments of capitalism associated with the historical period have led to many of the disabling forms of oppression that persist in contemporary society. Starting from such a ground, in this study, he acts with the idea that disability occurs within the framework of capitalist political and economic relations. In examining how the historical period that emerged as capitalism gave rise to many of the forms of disability that persist in today's society, a historical perspective is adopted that draws the connections between the past, present and future. In the first part, it is discussed which approaches a social scientific debate on disability is shaped around and how people with disability in the social field through capitalism turn into 'disabled' citizens with preventive policies. This study, which considers the critique of capitalism on disability necessary, makes a theoretical selection from the birth of capitalism to the rise of today's new communication technologies with a historical methodology. In the second part, there is 262 a field research on the social media usage practices of disabled people in existing capitalist social relations. The first research part of this study is based on in-depth interview data collection technique. Data were collected face-to-face, using in-depth interview method and semi- structured interview form. The interviews also aimed to learn the daily life practices of the 15 participants, their participation in the public sphere, their access problems and their status in social life after the demographic information was obtained. It is aimed to help us see the effects of social media usage practices on their lives with the information gained on these issues. In the second stage of the research, the Twitter shares of five Twitter users randomly selected from the participants were examined. Quantitative and qualitative data obtained from these shares provided the opportunity to see the usage practices of disabled individuals together with their social status. In the third stage of the research, it consists of tweet information captured through the Maxqda program. The tweets obtained by scanning the words 'disabled' and 'disability' through the program were quantitatively categorized. While not rejecting the potentials of existing new communication technologies and social media, it has been seen that it is limited in overcoming the obstacles created by the capitalist society.