Sociomateriality and disabled individuals’ identity work: a critical poststructuralist research agenda

This paper responds to calls to rebalance the role of materiality in identity work. Taking a critical poststructuralist approach to identity work and a relational ontology perspective on sociomateriality, we explore how a ‘disabled’ person’s identity work is shaped by and responds to the influences of embodied practices and material arrangements within the workplace. We achieve this by reviewing the notion of sociomateriality as a "constitutive entanglement" (Orlikowski, 2007: 1437) of the material and the human. More specifically, we discuss how disabled individuals are constituted through sociomaterial relations and practices involving the body, assistive technology and mundane artefacts. This paper, therefore, contributes to the emerging interest, in identity studies, on the role of the material within identity work, and, in Disability Studies, to the entanglement of the social and material in constructions of disability as difference

Pedestrian Detection with Wearable Cameras for the Blind: A Two-way Perspective

Blind people have limited access to information about their surroundings, which is important for ensuring one's safety, managing social interactions, and identifying approaching pedestrians. With advances in computer vision, wearable cameras can provide equitable access to such information. However, the always-on nature of these assistive technologies poses privacy concerns for parties that may get recorded. We explore this tension from both perspectives, those of sighted passersby and blind users, taking into account camera visibility, in-person versus remote experience, and extracted visual information. We conduct two studies: an online survey with MTurkers (N=206) and an in-person experience study between pairs of blind (N=10) and sighted (N=40) participants, where blind participants wear a working prototype for pedestrian detection and pass by sighted participants. Our results suggest that both of the perspectives of users and bystanders and the several factors mentioned above need to be carefully considered to mitigate potential social tensions.Comment: The 2020 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020

Healthcare Robotics

Robots have the potential to be a game changer in healthcare: improving health and well-being, filling care gaps, supporting care givers, and aiding health care workers. However, before robots are able to be widely deployed, it is crucial that both the research and industrial communities work together to establish a strong evidence-base for healthcare robotics, and surmount likely adoption barriers. This article presents a broad contextualization of robots in healthcare by identifying key stakeholders, care settings, and tasks; reviewing recent advances in healthcare robotics; and outlining major challenges and opportunities to their adoption.Comment: 8 pages, Communications of the ACM, 201

Technology and Disability Identity: "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"

This qualitative study examines how students’ identities are constructed when technology and disability intersect. Understanding how technology constructs the identities of students with invisible special needs such as learning disabilities is critical to determining why students are resistant to, or accepting of, assistive technology pedagogy. The primary source of data for the study was in-depth, phenomenologically based interviewing using structured, open-ended dialogue. Three Ontario secondary schools provided the setting for the study. Participants included five students with learning disabilities who are users of assistive technology, two parents, two teachers, and two assistive technology coaches. A grounded theory methodology was used to permit theoretical categories to emerge from the data. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) Is the promise of technology compromised by the visibility of technology support, and how do students who access technology through the Special Equipment Amount (SEA) negotiate any related social dynamic? (b) What does the diagnosis of a learning disability mean to students and their parents? (c) What are the particular experiences and contexts within which students that access technology through SEA are trained? and (d) How do teachers, parents, and trainers see their role in the technology assistance program? The research findings indicated a strong positive association between the variables of awareness, understanding, and acceptance. Participants’ responses revealed: (a) a direct relationship between students’ lack of awareness of having a disability and lack of knowledge regarding why they have a SEA laptop with access to Assistive Technology (AT), (b) a strong connection between students’ awareness and understanding of the diagnosis of LD and their willingness to “own” or accept a disabled identity in order to access necessary supports such as AT, and (c) overall, that awareness, understanding, and acceptance of a LD appeared to significantly impact students’ willingness to happily engage with AT. Beliefs expressed by participants about responses to AT revealed tensions between the promised empowerment of AT and the negative self-perception related to AT use. Students appeared to be unwittingly trapped in a cost-versus-benefit dynamic, such as independence and improved abilities versus inferior status and social labelling. Consistent with the literature on stigma related to invisible disabilities, students in some instances appeared to shoulder the burden associated with the social cost of being perceived as academically inferior. Participants perceived several reasons for lack of engagement and abandonment of SEA equipment, including stigmatized identities, compromised self-esteem, and indifference. Although these reasons prove to be barriers to successful integration and engagement with SEA equipment, in this study, stigma appeared to be the most powerful recurring explanation for AT abandonment.

Location tracking: views from the older adult population

Background: there has been a rise in the use of social media applications that allow people to see where friends, family and nearby services are located. Yet while uptake has been high for younger people, adoption by older adults is relatively slow, despite the potential health and social benefits. In this paper, we explore the barriers to acceptance of location-based services (LBS) in a community of older adults. Objective: to understand attitudes to LBS technologies in older adults. Methods: eighty-six older adults used LBS for 1-week and completed pre- and post-use questionnaires. Twenty available volunteers from the first study also completed in-depth interviews after their experience using the LBS technology. Results: the pre-use questionnaire identified perceptions of usefulness, individual privacy and visibility as predictive of intentions to use a location-tracking service. Post-use, perceived risk was the only factor to predict intention to use LBS. Interviews with participants revealed that LBS was primarily seen as an assistive technology and that issues of trust and privacy were important. Conclusion: the findings from this study suggest older adults struggle to see the benefits of LBS and have a number of privacy concerns likely to inhibit future uptake of location-tracking services and devices

Technology and Disability Identity: Now You See Me, Now You Don\u27t

This qualitative study examines how students’ identities are constructed when technology and disability intersect. Understanding how technology constructs the identities of students with invisible special needs such as learning disabilities is critical to determining why students are resistant to, or accepting of, assistive technology pedagogy. The primary source of data for the study was in-depth, phenomenologically based interviewing using structured, open-ended dialogue. Three Ontario secondary schools provided the setting for the study. Participants included five students with learning disabilities who are users of assistive technology, two parents, two teachers, and two assistive technology coaches. A grounded theory methodology was used to permit theoretical categories to emerge from the data. The purpose of the research was to investigate: (a) Is the promise of technology compromised by the visibility of technology support, and how do students who access technology through the Special Equipment Amount (SEA) negotiate any related social dynamic? (b) What does the diagnosis of a learning disability mean to students and their parents? (c) What are the particular experiences and contexts within which students that access technology through SEA are trained? and (d) How do teachers, parents, and trainers see their role in the technology assistance program? The research findings indicated a strong positive association between the variables of awareness, understanding, and acceptance. Participants’ responses revealed: (a) a direct relationship between students’ lack of awareness of having a disability and lack of knowledge regarding why they have a SEA laptop with access to Assistive Technology (AT), (b) a strong connection between students’ awareness and understanding of the diagnosis of LD and their willingness to “own” or accept a disabled identity in order to access necessary supports such as AT, and (c) overall, that awareness, understanding, and acceptance of a LD appeared to significantly impact students’ willingness to happily engage with AT. Beliefs expressed by participants about responses to AT revealed tensions between the promised empowerment of AT and the negative self-perception related to AT use. Students appeared to be unwittingly trapped in a cost-versus-benefit dynamic, such as independence and improved abilities versus inferior status and social labelling. Consistent with the literature on stigma related to invisible disabilities, students in some instances appeared to shoulder the burden associated with the social cost of being perceived as academically inferior. Participants perceived several reasons for lack of engagement and abandonment of SEA equipment, including stigmatized identities, compromised self-esteem, and indifference. Although these reasons prove to be barriers to successful integration and engagement with SEA equipment, in this study, stigma appeared to be the most powerful recurring explanation for AT abandonment

An ideal model of an assistive technology assessment and delivery process

The purpose of the present work is to present some aspects of the Assistive Technology Assessment (ATA) process model compatible with the Position Paper 2012 by AAATE/EASTIN. Three aspects of the ATA process will be discussed in light of three topics of the Position Paper 2012: (i) The dimensions and the measures of the User eXperience (UX) evaluation modelled in the ATA process as a way to verify the efficient and the evidence-based practices of an AT service delivery centre; (ii) The relevance of the presence of the psychologist in the multidisciplinary team of an AT service delivery centre as necessary for a complete person-centred assistive solution empowering users to make their own choices; (iii) The new profession of the psychotechnologist, who explores users needs by seeking a proper assistive solution, leading the multidisciplinary team to observe critical issues and problems. Through the foundation of the Position Paper 2012, the 1995 HEART study, the Matching Person and Technology model, the ICF framework, and the pillars of the ATA process, this paper sets forth a concept and approach that emphasise the personal factors of the individual consumer and UX as key to positively impacting a successful outcome and AT solution

Textile art promoting well-being in long-term illness: Some general and specific influences

The paper reviews previous research into the meanings of textile art-making for people living with long-term illness. Qualitative accounts of the creative process suggest that textile art-making is a multi-dimensional experience. Some practitioners regard textile artwork as a means of coping with discomfort and other symptoms. For a minority, it enables expressions of anxiety and feelings about loss. Nevertheless, participants place more emphasis on the role of textile art-making in rebuilding a satisfactory identity, and restoring autonomy and quality to life. It fills occupational voids following early retirement, and enables social contacts. Textile artwork also stimulates learning and personal development. It remains possible that any creative occupation delivers such benefits. The paper analyses qualitative accounts from seven participants to identify whether textile art-making has any distinctive experiential qualities. As a creative occupation, it seems to be quite distinctive in being readily accessible even to those who do not consider themselves as artistic. Modern textile art embraces diverse techniques and forms, and practitioners’ choice and autonomy are enhanced by having several different projects in process at once. It accepts the use of assistive technology, thereby enabling people with a variety of physical impairments to produce ‘mainstream’ art. It draws upon rich social traditions, facilitating social contact. Many forms of textile art-making are highly time-consuming, fostering a future orientation, and the creative process is often socially visible within the home, with positive consequences for self-image. This study is exploratory. Further enquiry into the distinctive influences of different creative occupations upon well-being is recommended

Interdependence as a Frame for Assistive Technology Research and Design

In this paper, we describe interdependence for assistive technology design, a frame developed to complement the traditional focus on independence in the Assistive Technology field. Interdependence emphasizes collaborative access and people with disabilities' important and often understated contribution in these efforts. We lay the foundation of this frame with literature from the academic discipline of Disability Studies and popular media contributed by contemporary disability justice activists. Then, drawing on cases from our own work, we show how the interdependence frame (1) synthesizes findings from a growing body of research in the Assistive Technology field and (2) helps us orient to additional technology design opportunities. We position interdependence as one possible orientation to, not a prescription for, research and design practice--one that opens new design possibilities and affirms our commitment to equal access for people with disabilities

The Ethical Implications of Personal Health Monitoring

Personal Health Monitoring (PHM) uses electronic devices which monitor and record health-related data outside a hospital, usually within the home. This paper examines the ethical issues raised by PHM. Eight themes describing the ethical implications of PHM are identified through a review of 68 academic articles concerning PHM. The identified themes include privacy, autonomy, obtrusiveness and visibility, stigma and identity, medicalisation, social isolation, delivery of care, and safety and technological need. The issues around each of these are discussed. The system / lifeworld perspective of Habermas is applied to develop an understanding of the role of PHMs as mediators of communication between the institutional and the domestic environment. Furthermore, links are established between the ethical issues to demonstrate that the ethics of PHM involves a complex network of ethical interactions. The paper extends the discussion of the critical effect PHMs have on the patient’s identity and concludes that a holistic understanding of the ethical issues surrounding PHMs will help both researchers and practitioners in developing effective PHM implementations