Technology as a tool of social distinction : unobvious relations between technology and disability

Assistive technologies are solutions designed to improve everyday functioning of people with disabilities. However, critical analysis of this concept may lead to surprising conclusions. If under the term of assistive technologies we understand solutions that support everyday functioning of human body and mind, it turns out that in fact every technology could be considered to be assistive in one way or another. Nevertheless, commonly used technologies are identified as assistive only when they are intended for users with disabilities. This indicates how ambiguous this concept is and that assistive technology (just like disability) is in fact a social and cultural construct.