Challenges and Gaps Found in the Dissemination of Spaces that Promote Digital Inclusion: Results of a Qualitative Study

This comprehensive study analyzed the challenges and significant gaps in disseminating spaces promoting the digital inclusion of People with Disability (PwD) in three Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola, Brazil, and Portugal). These spaces, such as Disability Support Associations or Digital Inclusion Resource Centers, provide services and resources to increase the autonomy, independence, accessibility, communication, and quality of life of these people. To ensure that PwD has knowledge of and access to these spaces, it is essential to promote them effectively, increasing their usefulness and impact on the community that needs them. Using a qualitative approach, 16 semi-structured interviews were carried out on the communication process of each space, with stakeholders such as administrators and heads of the communication departments of spaces promoting digital inclusion. The collected data was analyzed using NVivo, categorizing it, identifying response patterns, and cross-referencing it. This analysis identified gaps and challenges affecting the effectiveness of promoting the spaces studied. The results show a significant gap in communication strategies, which is recognized as the main challenge in promoting these spaces. Other gaps include limited time to promote these spaces, lack of communication skills, insufficient financial resources, and reluctance to join communication channels. Based on this analysis, this article highlights the need to address these gaps and develop more effective dissemination strategies. The results can contribute to improving the digital inclusion of PwD and serve as a basis for developing future communication campaigns to promote this type of space.