This paper aims to get a finer understanding of the social interactions between staff members and resident service-users living in housing with special services in Sweden, by looking at the ways they communicate using mobile phones or the Internet. Previous research on disability and technology has focused mainly on issues pertaining to barriers relative to the accessibility of telecommunication technology or to the way disabled people make use of such technology. However, this research has paid little attention to the type of social relationships that are created and facilitated by means of such mediated interactions.
In this paper, we attempt to tackle this issue by answering the Symposium’s invitation to investigate “how connectivity and disconnectivity can give rise to and facilitate social inclusion and democratic processes, as well as exclusion, isolation and conflict.” Drawing upon ethnographical data, we analyse three different situations. First, a situation of (dis)connection initiated by a resident service-user. Second, a situation of (dis)connection initiated by a staff member. Third, the use of e-mail correspondence as both an alternative and a complementary form of communication initiated by a resident service-user. In doing so, we call attention to the fact that interactions imply (dis)connections between various parties and that telecommunication technology adds a layer of complexity to the already blurred lines between private and public spheres in housing with special services.