# Transcript

ALICE GATHONI:
I am researching on young adults with disabilities within the context of Kenya where I come from. And what I'm looking at is what they do on social media, their activities and mostly their agency on social media.
There's been so much concerns of late about issues of safety and bullying on social media, but I really wanted to understand about what young adults with disabilities think and the activities on these media, and what it is that social media enables them to be and become.
I went for fieldwork in Kenya for four months. And this was a participatory research. So I wanted to-- I worked with the young adults as core researchers. One of the things that I suggested we could do was a social media map, and it's basically a map but having the young person in the middle and then letting them describe the people they use social media with and what value these people have in their lives or institutions. So that was very important.
But because I was working with youth who had also visual impairments and, of course, we know it's not possible for them to sketch like you and me would ordinarily. So I wanted to find out how they did. And one of the things that really intrigued me is that they were very happy to do it but they used Braille. So it was beautiful allowing the young people with visual impairments to express themselves and to be part and parcel of the research.
One thing that I am realizing in my data is that through social media young adults with disabilities are able to form what I'm calling communities of practice. And using these communities of practice they are able to mobilize one another in cases of discrimination, in cases of issues of injustice.
This is something they didn't have before because we don't have more than 100 students with disabilities in one University. So we have two there, two there, but once they have social media it comes off helps them come together and that is very important. That's giving them a voice that they have not had before.
I have always wanted to bring out the voice of young people with disabilities. And a lot of research that is out there is really talking about what teachers are saying with very little about what youth with disability themselves want or what they value. And so I really wanted to do a research that was going to involve young people and not just involve them but also ensure that their voice is clearly heard.
These things are important. They count because that is what their aspirations are. And so if as academicians, as policy makers, people who are involved in decision making do not really take account of their voices, then it means that the research that we are doing or the places where we are placing our money it's not in line with the aspiration, it's not in line with what young people with disabilities in this age want. So I think that has taught me along the way to stop and reflect, is this what young people want?