Rethinking Who Needs Improvement
by Ashley Shew
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2023
160 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
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.
"A powerful manifesto...Although framed as a denunciation of technoableism, the belief that technical advances will "cure" disability, this book is a more inclusive, intensely squirm-inducing attack on the almost universal conviction that disabled people are broken and require fixing. The author makes a convincing case...Essential reading for the disabled and nondisabled alike." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[An] amusing and persuasive polemic...Shew posits an alternative way of viewing the world—one where people with disabilities are considered not just the experts on their own bodies but as experts on uncertainty and injustice, who are uniquely qualified to be architects of a more equal future...Equally fierce and funny, this will galvanize readers to demand genuine equity for people with disabilities." —Publishers Weekly
"Part memoir, part manifesto... this [is] an essential text for the nondisabled to use to educate themselves on the harms of technoableism. Highly recommend." —Booklist
"Necessary and delightful. Ashley Shew teaches us an important framework for understanding the intersection of technology and ableism with clear prose and incredible charm, as her wry sense of humor jumps off the page." ―Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of The Disordered Cosmos
"Against Technoableism reveals design justice not only for those with disabilities but for everyone who labors and lives with technology. It's an outstanding book." ―Stephen Kuusisto, author of Have Dog, Will Travel
"Authoritative, witty, thoughtful, and unafraid to throw a punch, Ashley Shew pushes us headlong toward a much-needed world in which disabled people are seen as experts in their lives, curators of their stories, and vibrant, essential, generative parts of our collective future." ―Ed Yong, author of An Immense World
This information about Against Technoableism was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ashley Shew is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech, and specializes in disability studies and technology ethics. Her books include Against Technoableism, Animal Constructions, and Technological Knowledge and Spaces for the Future (coedited). She lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.
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