Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement

by Ashley Shew

Synopsis:

A manifesto exploding what we think we know about disability, and arguing that disabled people are the real experts when it comes to technology and disability.

When bioethicist and professor Ashley Shew became a self-described “hard-of-hearing chemobrained amputee with Crohn’s disease and tinnitus,” there was no returning to “normal.” Suddenly well-meaning people called her an “inspiration” while grocery shopping or viewed her as a needy recipient of technological wizardry. Most disabled people don’t want what the abled assume they want—nor are they generally asked. Almost everyone will experience disability at some point in their lives, yet the abled persistently frame disability as an individual’s problem rather than a social one.

In a warm, feisty voice and vibrant prose, Shew shows how we can create better narratives and more accessible futures by drawing from the insights of the cross-disability community. To forge a more equitable world, Shew argues that we must eliminate “technoableism”—the harmful belief that technology is a “solution” for disability; that the disabled simply await being “fixed” by technological wizardry; that making society more accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority.

This badly needed introduction to disability expertise considers mobility devices, medical infrastructure, neurodivergence, and the crucial relationship between disability and race. The future, Shew points out, is surely disabled—whether through changing climate, new diseases, or even through space travel. It’s time we looked closely at how we all think about disability technologies and learn to envision disabilities not as liabilities, but as skill sets enabling all of us to navigate a challenging world.

Ashley Shew’s Against Technoableism is a fairly short book divided into chapters that don’t need to be read linearly. It has a few different themes: one is that technology isn’t the cure-all that people are suggesting for various disabilities, and that even if it was, is that really for the best for people with disabilities, and is it what they want? And why, either way, is assistive technology often developed without reference to what disabled people actually want?

It also delves into the social model of disability, and spares a chapter to discuss neurodiversity (though Shew acknowledges that that isn’t her lane, so she does a lot of talking with others). She points out throughout the book that the way we look at people with disabilities is often what is disabling: if we stopped policing how autistic people express themselves, for example, they would be healthier, happier, and more able to contribute in the ways they are interested in doing.

None of it was an enormous surprise to me; I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of similar discussion through friends, discussions I’ve followed online, etc. But it’s very readable and clear, and I think a good start if you’re interested in the topic.

As a note, Shew does discuss why she became an amputee, though not immediately, and talks frankly about the cancer that led to it. If you have any health-focused anxiety, it’s worth being aware of that going in!

Rating: 4/5