Analysis of the Dynamics of the Internet Use by Persons with Disabilities in Poland over the Decade 2003–2013 in the Context of Their Socio-Demographic Characteristics

The aim of this article is to present changes in the scale and functionality of internet use by persons with disabilities in Poland over the course of a decade (2003-2013). In the first analytical step, the growth in internet use by disabled persons is presented in connection with the basic variables of their socio-demographic profiles. While demonstrating the stable pattern of influence of socio-demographic traits on internet use by disabled persons over time, an attempt has been made to verify the thesis that the side of the digital divide on which a disabled person will be situated is not determined by the sole fact of having a disability but is rather a derivative of the person’s social status. As the second half of the article attempts to show, social status for this category of user also determines the level of the internet’s functionality (the number of activities performed on the internet and the amount of time devoted to their performance). Empirical analyses were based on data from successive editions of the Social Diagnosis research.