The Informational Body: A Sociomedical Theory of Disability and the Ethics of the Brain-Machine Interface (BMI)

Cybernetic and bionic technologies hold great emancipatory potential for people with disabilities. Yet, scientists and disability scholars are polarized in their views on developing biotechnologies. Different discourses converge upon the brain machine interface—a link between the central nervous system and an external device—that augments sensory information and mobility for people with disabilities. This study combines philosophical, cultural studies, and social sciences methods to examine perceptions of these technologies held by people with physical, mobility disabilities and those of the researchers who develop them. Participants with acquired disabilities were more open to brain-machine technologies than those with congenital disabilities; scientists focused on patient “quality of life” and the ethics surrounding biotechnologies. I propose a “sociomedical” theory of disability that reconciles opposed medical and social models through an “informational body heuristic” that delineates the disabled body as a functionally-impaired cybernetic system. Ideological reconciliation would facilitate access to biotechnologies, thus improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.M.I.S.2018-11-30 00:00:0