Last fall, I took MIT, 6.811: Principles and Practices of Assistive Technology. In one of the guest lectures, a man that used a joystick-controlled wheelchair for mobility began asking the class if he was normal. Whether it be due to fear of pointing out a disability or due to morning inertia, a deafening silence followed for a good twenty seconds. The man then replied his own question by saying that no one is really “normal”. He followed by pointing out that we all have unique physical and mental abilities on par with their own strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the rest of his presentation, he exposed his viewpoint and guided us towards a conclusion of a goal of assistive technology: helps those with disabilities feel more ‘normal’ and less ‘different’ in their daily lives.

With this in mind, I continued to develop the assistive technology for the client we had been assigned to in our team- let’s call him Alexis for convenience. Alexis undergoes periods of communicative inability (cannot speak or write well) due to a combination of PTSD and aphasia related episodes that he cannot predict. These periods are frustrating to Alexis, since if severe, he cannot ask for help easily and, if mild, cannot relieve bystanders offering help. To help mitigate this “difference”, my team and I sought to create an iOS application that helped Alexis communicate to others while he was experiencing the periods of expressive difficulty.

In the process of creating the app, my team and I made multiple considerations to minimize how “different” Alexis would feel using the app. A paramount consideration that Alexis underscored was that he wanted the app to be discreet. This request demanded a reflection on the taboo society had towards assistive technologies. Why do people want to avoid being noticed using a wheelchair, a hearing aid, or a back-straightening brace? Being ‘different’ is frowned upon and many people do not want others to notice that they deviate from a norm of physical ability. For this reason, many hearing aid holsters are colored to match the color of their user’s hair color and adult teeth braces colored white. Yet there are exceptions to this trend. Children and teen’s teeth braces and casts are typically bright colored, potentially so they come to embody a more cheerful and youthful aura – something that is not always replicated in the adult versions of these. Should assistive technologies be hidden or more appealingly apparent?

In the end, we designed an iOS app for Erica that upheld her priority of discretion. We called the app “iNotify” and gave it an innocuous purple app icon. Her requested functionalities were also delivered, with an easy to navigate user interface. When we delivered the app to her, she was very happy. This was very fulfilling and the most satisfying takeaway from the class. Nonetheless, the importance of being aware of society’s perceptions towards assistive technology solutions also remained very clear in my mind.