Abstract

This study examines, from a digital humanities perspective, how persons with disabilities access digital cultural heritage and assesses the accessibility opportunities afforded by emerging technologies. It analyses key technological domains deployed to support the access of people with visual, hearing, cognitive, physical and multiple impairments to digital cultural heritage, including explainable artificial intelligence, three-dimensional modelling, virtual and augmented reality applications, and sign language-supported systems. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative content analysis with a review of the literature. It also evaluates institutional practices in light of international accessibility guidelines such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) specification, relevant European Union directives, and the policies of open access platforms such as Europeana, DARIAH and Time Machine. The findings indicate that making digital cultural heritage accessible for persons with disabilities requires not only technological transformations but also ethical, social and political changes. Accordingly, the study proposes a set of recommendations for the holistic design of digital accessibility policies and underscores that persons with disabilities should be positioned in these digital environments not as passive users but as active participants and co-creators.

Keywords: Digital humanities, cultural heritage access, digital cultural heritage, individuals with disabilities, digital accessibility

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Copyright (c) 2025 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to Cite

Yavuzer, T., Özel, N., & Subaşıoğlu, F. (2025). Digital Cultural Heritage Access for Individuals with Disabilities from a Digital Humanities Perspective: New Technologies and Digital Accessibility. Information World, 26(2), 608-635. https://doi.org/10.15612/BD.2025.855