Hall Center in Wichita
Each year we look forward to sharing exciting scholarship with our neighbors in Wichita. Held at the Wichita Art Museum, this event merges scholars and community members from Lawrence and Wichita for a reception and lecture on topics in the humanities.
Walkie Talkies & Other Technoableist Dreams
Ashley Shew
THU, NOV 9
Reception: 6:00 - 7:00 PM | Lecture: 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Wichita Art Museum, 1400 Museum Blvd
Walking and talking are seen as instrumental goods in healthcare: they are valued for what they do instead of what they are. Ashley Shew argues that these are not the only ways to move through the world or connect with others: crutches, wheelchairs, AAC devices, and signed languages all serve the same ends. Drawing on disability narratives, Shew depicts a world where healthcare fixates on walking and talking, often at the expense of what disabled people actually want and need. Using the concept of technoableism—the idea that ableism is reinforced in the way we depict technologies for disabilities—Shew argues that “health” itself is instrumental. What matters is what health brings, and emphasis on specific functionalities can undermine actual progress toward health in its original meaning of wholeness. By focusing on parts and their perceived “deficiencies,” healthcare misses the wholeness health should entail, working against human flourishing.
Shew’s research sits at the intersection of technology studies, biotech ethics, and disability studies. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award for her work on disability narrative about technology, and is principal investigator of a Mellon Foundation-funded project supporting the creation of a regional Disability Community Technology (DisCoTec) Center. Shew is the author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, and a forthcoming textbook, co-edited with Hanna Herdegen, Technology and Disability. She is also the author of Technological Knowledge and Animal Constructions and co-editor of three philosophy of technology volumes. Shew’s public-facing writing has appeared in Nature, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed. Please RSVP if you would like to attend the reception before the lecture. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served.