Effect of COVID-19 on Internet Usage of People with Disabilities: A Secondary Data Analysis

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led our society to lead a life different than before. People, including those with disabilities, have come to rely on information from the Internet. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the impact of the pandemic on the Internet usage of people with disabilities. To address this gap, this study analyzed data from the 2020 Digital Divide Survey, which comprised data on 7000 non-disabled people and 2200 people with disabilities. This was used to compare the changes in usage of Internet services, and awareness and experience of COVID-19-related non-face-to-face services among non-disabled people and people with physical disabilities, brain lesions, visual impairments, hearing impairments, and language impairments. People with and without disabilities reported increased internet usage, but the increase was significantly higher in the non-disabled population than in people with disabilities (p < 0.05), except for people with language impairments. Specific changes to service usage, experience, and usefulness were different according to the type of disability. The non-disabled population showed a significantly greater increase in the use of social participation services than people with physical disabilities (p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that digital services need to be developed flexibly to address the unique needs of people with different types of disabilities.