Disabled Individuals’ Experiences with Surveillance: Privacy, Security, and Accessibility Perspectives
Disabled Individuals’ Experiences with Surveillance: Privacy, Security, and Accessibility Perspectives

Summary/Abstract: This qualitative study explores how disabled individuals experience digital surveillance, focusing on the intersecting dimensions of privacy, security, autonomy, and accessibility. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 15 university students with diverse disabilities in Türkiye, the research reveals that surveillance technologies simultaneously enable social inclusion and intensify exclusionary practices. Participants describe digital systems - such as health and education platforms - not only as access tools but also as mechanisms of control and categorization. Thematic analysis uncovers five core dynamics: 1) autonomy-privacy dilemmas, 2) surveillance as protection and behavior regulation, 3) the impact of surveillance on discrimination, 4) differences in perception according to type of disability, and 5) personal strategies of digital resistance. The study critically engages with disability justice and surveillance theories to argue that surveillance is not a neutral or purely protective tool, but a socio-technical power structure that reproduces inequalities under the guise of accessibility. Policy and technology design implications are discussed.

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