A Posthuman Approach to Agency, Disability, and Technology in Social Interactions

ABSTRACT

This study explores how agency is distributed in an interaction among a child, a speech-language pathologist, and an electronic communication device. Using video-recorded data of the interaction, I consider how micro features of the participants’ communication such as gaze and gesture as well as material objects such as the device collectively shape possibilities for agency. This interdependent, posthuman approach shifts our understanding and practice of agency from gaining independence to improving collect action.

KEYWORDS:

• Rhetoric of technology
• posthuman agency
• interdependence
• technology
• disability

Acknowledgments

I offer my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the families, children, and speech-language pathologists who shared their knowledge of and interactions with AAC technologies for this project. I would also like to thank the staff and volunteers of Chatter Matters! Communication Camp for making this research possible. Additionally, I am very grateful to the reviewers and editors for their valuable and insightful feedback on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. “Complex communication needs” is an umbrella term which refers to challenges people experience in producing typical modes of speech resulting from a broad range of cognitive differences such as autism or conditions such as cerebral palsy.

2. Dedicated AAC devices are developed solely for the purpose of communication unlike iPads or tablets which can be used for a variety of purposes in addition to AAC such as browsing the Internet or playing games.

3. In addition to touch screen technology, access interfaces for AAC may include eye gaze, body-controlled pointing or switches, or scanning technologies.

4. I follow Autistic scholars and Autism self-advocates in using the term autism as an adjective (Autistic person) to connote that autism is a neurocognitive difference or condition that is part of a person’s individual and community identity, rather than a disease or disorder as implied by using person first language (person with autism) which is typically used to describe people who experience illness or impairments.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary J. Clinkenbeard

Mary J. Clinkenbeard is an Assistant Professor of English at North Central College. Her work explores issues of agency, disability, and accessibility in human-technology relations.