Dis/ability-producing technology assemblages and networks at the workplace : a new materialist analysis

Abstract

In this study, 25 Maltese employees with physical or sensory impairments shared their experiences regarding access and use of various technologies at work, first via focus groups and individual interviews, and then through observation sessions at their workplace. The research initially rested on the premise that disabled people face various barriers related to the access and use of technology in their employment, that are not directly ensuing from their impairments. It then built on this premise by applying concepts from new materialisms in an attempt to broaden the notions proposed by the social model of disability. Through the use of vignettes, this paper shows how enabling technologies form part of assemblages, networks and entanglements of people, things and affects to produce consequences that are conducive to or limiting of dis/ability.