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Cyborgs and Disability Studies

kgould's picture

I've been trying to think about Haraway's cyborg and the idea of someone with a disability augmenting that disability with technology (i.e. wheelchair, cochlear implants, medication, etc) and becoming a cyborg.

This is problematic, I think, because I've been reading a book by Tobin Siebers called "Disability Theory" in which he addresses this idea of a disabled cyborg. But, he writes, a disabled cyborg is no longer seen as disabled. 

Once someone has taken technology in order to address their disability, that disability is supposed to be of no consequence--they have corrected it--even though the individual is still disabled. What kinds of implications does this have this have for cyborg theory, technology usage, and disability studies?

Can technology correct disability? Does it remove or negate a disabled identity?

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