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On Becoming A Cyborg: A Reflection On Articulation Work, Embodiment, Agency and Abelism

Rode, JA; (2018) On Becoming A Cyborg: A Reflection On Articulation Work, Embodiment, Agency and Abelism. In: Langdon, P and Lazar, J and Heylighen, A and Dong, H, (eds.) Breaking Down Barriers: Usability, Accessibility and Inclusive Design. (pp. pp. 239-249). Springer: Cham, Switzerland. Green open access

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Abstract

This article auto-ethnographically explores my experiences over the course of several years as I transitioned from able bodied, to frequent cane user, who used a scooter to attend academic conferences, to a user of robotic telepresence. I discuss the different affordances that those technologies allow, issues of embodiment, articulation work, agency, and ableism. The telepresence robot did not “fix me” as is often implicated with the medical model of disability (Thomson, 1997), or augment my experience to make it more palatable to the able-bodied majority. Instead, it allowed me to make conscious trade-offs between the affordances of my corporeal body and an emergent cyborg-self in the context of a degenerative auto-immune disease. Thus, in writing this article it is my intention to improve the social acceptance of the disabled cyborg-person, and through improved design to I aim to afford disabled persons choices.

Type: Proceedings paper
Title: On Becoming A Cyborg: A Reflection On Articulation Work, Embodiment, Agency and Abelism
Event: Cambridge Workshops on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT 2018), 9 - 11 April 2018, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, UK
ISBN-13: 978-3-319-75027-9
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-75028-6_21
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75028-6_21
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10040920
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