AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

The stance taken by this study is to create an opportunity for the views of young
people who use AAC to be represented. This has been influenced by the growing
legal obligations to create platforms for the voices of children and young people to be
heard (Article 12, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child, 1989; Article
21, United Nations on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, 2006; Every Child
Matters: Change for Children, 2004) and the evidence that progress to include the
voices of young people with significant communication impairment has been slow
(Morris, 2003; Rabiee et al. 2005; Wickenden, 2009).
1.4. The research aim
This general aim of the current research is to look at how the growing popularity
within westernised societies of the internet and online social media for social
communication may be influencing the social inclusion opportunities of young people
who use AAC. The specific research objectives (section 2.7) will be outlined in more
detail after the literature review.
1.5. Philosophical position
I interpret the aim of this research as facilitating an opportunity for adolescents and
young adults who have physical disabilities and complex communication needs to
offer their insights and experiences of using the internet and online social media. I
believe by embracing a social constructivist paradigm the research will remain open
to the creation of new knowledge and interpretations through an interactive process.
This is important as the cultural backgrounds of the participants (adolescents and
young adults who use AAC) and myself (a female speech and language therapist in
her late forties) vary in terms of age, physical and communication abilities but may
also overlap in terms of using the internet and online social media. I interpret my
researcher voice as that of a
““passionate participant” as facilitator of multi-voice reconstruction” (Guba
& Lincoln, 1994:112)
Methodologically, the thesis predominantly utilizes a constructivist grounded theory
approach based on the writings of Kathy Charmaz (2000, 2006, 2008 & 2009).
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