Disability digital divide is a pertinent topic discuss in Sri Lanka. Three decades of civil war effected to become many civilians into disabled. This study analyses the findings on disability and technology adoption among the disabled community in Sri Lanka. This study conducted in two stages and results analyses and proposed a framework to benchmark the web accessibility consideration factors that need to be consider into account for web based mobile application development. Sample cover with the 494 participants. Questionnaire distributed among the sample selected from the different disabled people and it cover from different communities, different disabled categories and different geographical locations. This study indicated that computer and internet usage among the community is low comparatively used of mobile phone. Reason for this is cost of the computer, mobility difficulties, cost of high speed bandwidth, difficulties of sitting in front of a computer, lack of understanding on modern assistive tools and technologies. Therefore mobile phones are popular among the community. As a solution a Framework proposed to overcome the issues .It included the essential consideration factors need be consider by the web developers in the mobile related web application development.

1. Nirosha Wedasinghe PhD (Reading)
General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University -Sri Lanka

2. 
 Disability digital divide is a pertinent topic discuss
in Sri Lanka.
 Due to three decades of civil war many civilians
become disabled
 This study analyses the findings on disability and
technology adoption among the disabled
community in Sri Lanka.

3. Approach
Research Strategy
Sample
Collection
N = 494
participants from
SLLI Unit of Sri
Lanka Army
(Panagoda) and
Ranaviru Appral
(Yakkala)
Field survey
Literature survey
Observation
Data Analysis
• Evaluated with
technology
adoption theory
•Analysis on
theory with the
findings

4.  Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory

5. Type of Users Dependent
Variable
Range of the
Digital Divide Index
1. ICT Innovators DDI1 0.8 < DDI > 1.0
2. Early ICT
Adopters
DDI2 0.6 < DDI > 0.8
3. Early Majority
ICT Adopters
DDI3 DDI3 0.4 < DDI> 0.6
4. Late Majority
ICT Adopters
DDI4 DDI4 0.2 < DDI> 0.4
5. Laggards in
Adopting ICT
DDI5 DDI5 0.0 < DDI > 0.2
Level of Adoption of Basic ICT (B
Basic ICT Facilities ICT) = Basic
ICT Facilities/ 3 (i)
Level of Adoption of Intermediate
ICT (I Intermediate ICT Facilities
ICT) = Intermediate ICT
Facilities/ 4 (ii)
Level of Adoption of Advanced ICT
(A Advanced ICT Facilities ICT)
=Advance ICT Facilities/ 3 (iii)

6. Description Type Mean Medium Mode
Current ICT
Knowledge
Age 25
Low
Low
25
Low
Low
28
Low
Low
English
Knowledge
Management
Level
Relevance of IT
for Job related
activities
Age 29
Medium
Office
Package
30
Medium
Office Package
27
Medium
Office
Package
Management
Level
Type of Work
Interest of ICT for
future - (yes)
Age 25
Low
25
Medium
24
MediumManagement
Level

7. Basic Level Intermediate Level
Advanced Level
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
TelephoneUse
WebAccess
ComputerUse
Office…
Multimediause
Screenreader…
Socialmediause
ITAdministration
S/WDesign…
High-techS/W…
B1 B2 B3 I1 I2 I3 I4 A1 A2 A3

8. Age 18-25 25-35 36-45 >45
23 90 58 6
Type of Work Admin Operational
19 158
Language Sinhala Tamil English
177 - -
Gender Male Female
175 2
Leaving
Arrangements
With Patents 112
Shared accommodation with
friends
7
With Partner 41
Living alone 1
In a rehabilitation centre 15
Healing Home for War
heroes
1
Employment
Status
Full Time 177
Part Time 0
Casual 0
Management
Level
Upper 0
Middle 55
Low 122
Income Less than Rs. 15,000 0
Rs. 15,000 – Rs. 25,000 5
Rs. 25,001 – Rs. 35,000 71
Rs. 35,001 – Rs. 45,000 89
Rs. 45,001 – Rs. 60,000 12
 60,001 0

9. Mobile
Computers
Web

10. 1. Basic level ICT Facilities more used by the Sri
Lankan disabled
2. Mobile usage is high compare to the computer
and web usage among this community
3. There fore Mobile Application Developers
need to consider accessibility guidelines for
this disabled groups.

11. • Add alternative text to
images
• Consider Captioning for
Audio and video
• Transcription facilities for
brail and other devises
• Proper row and columns
headers for tables
• Testing with assistive
technologies
• Get feedback from people
with disabilities
• Follow latest release on
w3c ,WAI accessibility
guidelines for mobile
accessibility
Mobile
Applications
Developments
Considerations
for Disabled
Community in
Sri Lanka

12. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research has been support by:
 KDU Centre of the IT Support and Services
 The Support of the Administration and the
employees of the Sri Lanka Army Light
Infantry(SLLI) Regiment – Panagoda and
Ranaviru Apparel Yakkala
 Students of the KDU- BSc in ICT – Batch 29