Imagining technologies for disability futures

The media is full of stories asserting how technology is going to change the future of our health. Developments in assistive technology design and production promise huge benefits for improved health – from prosthetic limbs that duplicate the function of missing arms or legs, to smart drugs that will help preserve memory in old age, and companion robots that will serve as carers. 

We will ask what ideas of body and personhood are at stake because of these developments. We will ask how hopes and fears about our bodies and minds are expressed in the stories we tell ourselves about how we will interact with technology. We are particularly interested in how this connects to the lives of people living with disabilities. 

We will work with disability focus groups and family members, and develop prototype product designs and robot platforms as we explore how we imagine future encounters between disability and technology.