Assistive technologies, according to the World Health Organization, is an “umbrella term for a device that allows individuals to perform tasks they would otherwise be unable to do, or increases the ease and safety with which tasks can be performed.” Finding the right assistive device for you can be a tedious cycle of the following: what device to use? Can you afford it? When and where can you use the device? Can this device be more user friendly? Why do you not use this device anymore? Is there a better device for you?”
Finding the technology that suits your particular needs and use is a difficult process of trial and error. Being stigmatized and feeling afraid of standing out of the crowd is certainly not making the process easier. Assistive technologies have always been viewed with a certain degree of stigma. When you think of a white cane, you think of a fragile, weak, older, blind person. We view people who have disabilities with an outlook of loss. They are slower and different from us. Even though we might not say it out loud, we believe it. This then causes us to internalize our own stigma if we experience a disability, and we end up feeling hopeless and useless. Old people have been known to say that they don’t want to go to retirement homes because “they don’t want to be around other old people.”
Media isn’t doing much to alleviate this stigmatization. In fact, it is only feeding into it and reinforcing it into the viewers’ minds. The users of the devices also see stigma, even though the devices are showing an incredible benefit in their life. They, therefore, choose to hide it from the public. iPads have been tested recently as assistive devices of visual impairment, as they can enlarge print and magnify things. The users love it because it makes them feel like they are part of the crowd. Everyone holds an iPad and it is perceived as normal behaviour. The iPad, therefore, reinforces the internalized stigma; however, it allows the user to live a normalized life.
We need to change our attitudes about disability. It is not something that should put us to shame. It is normal and part of human life. We should adapt and change our views because they are paralyzing innocent people, including ourselves.
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