The creation of cyborgs within a socially constructed understanding of disability and assistive activity technology use

Points of InterestThe understanding of disability changes meaning according to the use of different technologies, between different people and in different contexts.To understand disability, we need to explore how people ascribe meaning to both the material and the social aspects of disability.The use of assistive activity technology led to new opportunities to participate in valued physical activities, and to negotiate new perceptions of disability.The understanding of disability and assistive activity technology use is an intertwined interpretation of human bodies, technology, and activity. This article illuminates how understandings of disability is negotiated through use of assistive activity technologies, when people with physical impairment use this kind of technology in their social and physical environment. A qualitative data design was adopted involving interviews with 44 adults with mobility impairments using assistive activity technology. The study was conducted in Mid-Norway. In analysing the findings, this study adopted the stepwise deductive-inductive approach with social constructivism as a theoretical basis. Furthermore, a relational understanding of disability and the cyborg metaphor are used to explain how disability and assistive activity technology are embodied, as well as social and material matters. The article shows how aspects in the social construction of disability are changed when people using assistive activity technology become subjects for new and positive interpretations.