AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

followed up later. Larned (2012) discusses his personal perspective as a person who
uses AAC on the empowerment of writing saying
“I discovered writing has a power all of its own to change hearts and win friends”
(newsletter).
During the data collection, a few participants asked if email could be used either pre
or post interviews to provide the research questions or to follow up on issues raised
within the interview. The benefits of using email were noted in the literature review to
support mentor/protégé relationships between people who use AAC (Cohen & Light,
2000) and via symbol-based email to enhance social contact for children who use
AAC (Sundqvist & Ronnberg, 2010). Another positive benefit discussed was the
possible ability of email to alleviate unequal turn-taking within conversations as the
pressure to respond quickly is removed (Gandell & Sutton, 1998, cited by Sundqvist
& Ronnberg, 2010).
5.8.3. Social capital
This area of the grounded theory reflects findings that emerged in relation to concepts
of social capital theory discussed in the literature review (section 2.4.4). Participants
within the current research described the ways that internet and online social media
increased the bonds of social ties with family and friends, maintained distant ties with
old school friends or people who had moved on to, or away from, college settings and
created the possibility for bridging social capital by creating new social ties through
inter-college online links or through friends of friends.
The current study never intended to measure social capital quantitatively but
considering the conceptual elements of social capital is useful in evaluating the value
of the perceived benefits of the internet and online social media for the participants in
this study. In relation to concepts of bridging social capital, the opportunity seen to
make contact and socially network with people who are ‘friends of friends’ may be
important for building a social presence in ways that may not have been open to the
current participants through traditional means as the reduced opportunities to network
in real world environments is well documented. Guo, Bricout and Huang, (2005)
found a positive relationship between internet use and improved frequency and
quality of social interactions for disabled people in China although there were
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