From Repair to Enhancement: The Use of Technical Aids in the Field of Disability

Abstract

There is nothing new in the use of technology to repair and compensate for human disabilities. Throughout the centuries we find examples of prostheses and artificial limbs being used to replace lost limbs (Avan et al., 1988). Various technical aids were also used to compensate for the body’s failings or to facilitate treatment — wheeled vehicles were used to carry invalids, for example. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the first wheelchairs that could be propelled by the users themselves appeared. But the majority of these vehicles were made of wood; they were heavy, cumbersome and difficult to manoeuvre. During the 19th century, medical progress (the discovery of anaesthesia, asepsis, antibiotics, radiology, and so on) made it possible to develop new techniques to repair and compensate for deficiencies. Furthermore, the end of the 19th century saw the beginning of a change in the social treatment of disabled persons, leading to the emergence of the notion of ‘handicap’ as a replacement for the notions of infirmity, invalidity, idiocy, and so on. In other words, developments in the modes of repairing deficiencies and of compensating for disabilities correlate with changes in the definition of ‘disability’ (as ‘handicap’) and in the way persons with disabilities are integrated into society.