ICTs and disability: Exploring the human dimensions of technological engagement

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Seymour, Wendy

Affiliations: Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia, Magill Campus, Magill, SA 5072, Australia. Tel.: +61 8 8302 4378; Fax: +61 8 8302 4776; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Technology offers the potential to free disabled people from dependence on others by enabling them to participate more fully in society and to take an active and creative role in their own embodiment. Technical familiarity and competence engender confidence in the ability to manipulate and control the environment and enhance self-esteem. But many studies demonstrate that technology is under-utilized or abandoned by people with disabilities, often after considerable investment of time and material resources. Past investigations have focused on the function of the technology and the skills of the user. This study shifts the focus of inquiry to less concrete dimensions of engagement: to the self-identity of the user and to the broad dimensions of global capitalism within which the user-technology relationship is negotiated in order to explore the factors that shape decisions to adopt or to abandon technologies.

Keywords: Disability, technology, under-use, abandonment, human factors

DOI: 10.3233/TAD-2005-17401

Journal: Technology and Disability, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 195-204, 2005