[ Text Version of "Technology as a Language and a Probe" ]

Technology as a Language and a Probe

Many people find technology fascinating and will gladly spend a lot of time on it. This, and the fact that technology has the ability to make things visible, makes technology a helpful tool when the user and those around her want to understand needs, wishes and dreams, provided the individual is always shown deep respect. The following are some of the possibilities of technology:

1. Technology is honest

People with disabilities, as well as those around them, can interact with the technology instead of waiting passively for somebody else to take the initiative. Technology is what it purports to be, no more no less.

2. Technology is neutral

It is difficult, maybe even impossible, for a human being to be completely neutral. It is particularly important to recognize this when people are acting as substitutes for others with, for example, communication difficulties or other cognitive problems. In this type of situation, the neutrality of technology may provide greater respect for the integrity of the individual than a fellow individual, however well-meaning, is able to do.

3. Technology is concrete

With regard to people with cognitive disabilities in particular, it is essential to have an object to show and to refer to when one is trying to understand needs, wishes and dreams. Abstract questions or thoughts simply do not work at all.

4. Technology provokes

A thought, a conversation, or a lecture has something fleeting about it. A technical tool, however, remains, and in the end forces a decision. Sometimes technology brings a previously hidden contradiction to light which has to be dealt with.

5. Technology surprises

Even the most open of research approaches has limits to how far it is aiming. When trying to use technology as a language, we have often been surprised by the way reality has answered questions completely different from the ones we have been asking when introducing the technology.

6. Technology liberates

There are moments when neither the user, nor the people around him, notice that he is facing obstacles. If you have not seen them, it is obviously not possible to work towards removing them. Sometimes the people around him do notice the obstacle, but take for granted that there is no technical solution. As a result, one puts a lot of effort into making living with the problem bearable instead. In other cases, the disabled person himself experiences the need but those around him do not see it. In a case like this, if the disabled person cannot express his needs, nobody else will do it for him.

In cases such as these, the use of technology can work like liberating education. The absurdity of the situation is revealed. We can discover the unknown by twisting around what is already known.

7. Technology empowers

In our experience, over the whole range from simple push-button commands to advanced computer technology, only the technology which leads to the empowerment of a disabled person has any profound effect. Empowerment, however, brings revolution. Peter, for example, went from being a rather isolated disabled person who had failed at his studies, to a becoming a top student, even abroad. Other examples include Stig Nilsson whose posture changed and Thomas Gustafsson who developed his language.

Introduction

References