Employment, Disabled People and Robots: What Is the Narrative in the Academic Literature and Canadian Newspapers?

Wolbring, Gregor

doi:10.3390/soc6020015

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…If this is the case, the question is, why is the situation so different if disabled people are covered? This discrepancy of tone of coverage based on whether one covers disabled people or non-disabled people is also evident in the robotics coverage (academic articles, newspapers) [182], and as such, our findings suggest a broader systemic problem.…”

Section: Conclusion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…Such a hierarchy is not surprising. A recent study looking at the coverage of robotics in academic literature and newspapers made the point that many discussions exist surrounding the negative impact of robotics on the employment situation of non-disabled people, and the study also revealed that coverage of the impacts of robotics on the employment situation of disabled people was highly techno-optimistic [182].…”

Section: The Issue Of Techno-optimismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People

Lillywhite

Wolbring

2020

Societies

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Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) advancements increasingly impact society and AI/ML ethics and governance discourses have emerged. Various countries have established AI/ML strategies. “AI for good” and “AI for social good” are just two discourses that focus on using AI/ML in a positive way. Disabled people are impacted by AI/ML in many ways such as potential therapeutic and non-therapeutic users of AI/ML advanced products and processes and by the changing societal parameters enabled by AI/ML advancements. They are impacted by AI/ML ethics and governance discussions and discussions around the use of AI/ML for good and social good. Using identity, role, and stakeholder theories as our lenses, the aim of our scoping review is to identify and analyze to what extent, and how, AI/ML focused academic literature, Canadian newspapers, and Twitter tweets engage with disabled people. Performing manifest coding of the presence of the terms “AI”, or “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning” in conjunction with the term “patient”, or “disabled people” or “people with disabilities” we found that the term “patient” was used 20 times more than the terms “disabled people” and “people with disabilities” together to identify disabled people within the AI/ML literature covered. As to the downloaded 1540 academic abstracts, 234 full-text Canadian English language newspaper articles and 2879 tweets containing at least one of 58 terms used to depict disabled people (excluding the term patient) and the three AI terms, we found that health was one major focus, that the social good/for good discourse was not mentioned in relation to disabled people, that the tone of AI/ML coverage was mostly techno-optimistic and that disabled people were mostly engaged with in their role of being therapeutic or non-therapeutic users of AI/ML influenced products. Problems with AI/ML were mentioned in relation to the user having a bodily problem, the usability of AI/ML influenced technologies, and problems disabled people face accessing such technologies. Problems caused for disabled people by AI/ML advancements, such as changing occupational landscapes, were not mentioned. Disabled people were not covered as knowledge producers or influencers of AI/ML discourses including AI/ML governance and ethics discourses. Our findings suggest that AI/ML coverage must change, if disabled people are to become meaningful contributors to, and beneficiaries of, discussions around AI/ML.

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Section: Conclusion and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: The Issue Of Techno-optimismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People

Lillywhite

Wolbring

2020

Societies

Self Cite

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“…STEM advancements, such as the development of assistive technologies, impact disabled people in positive ways but also in negative ways. For example, there is currently a debate around precision genetic engineering [155] and the danger of automatization and robotics on employment of disabled people [156].…”

Section: Research On Disability Contributes To Stem and Science Educamentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Disabled Students as Knowledge Producers including Researchers: A Missed Topic in Academic Literature

Lillywhite

Wolbring

2019

Education Sciences

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Research experience is beneficial for undergraduate students for many reasons. For example, it is argued in academic literature and in reports produced by various organizations that engage with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and science education that undergraduate research experience increases the graduation rate in STEM disciplines as well as the amount of students thinking about STEM careers. As such, being researchers should also be of benefit to undergraduate disabled students in all disciplines including STEM education. However, given that undergraduate disabled students encounter many problems within post-secondary education, including STEM education, undergraduate disabled students might encounter problems in becoming researchers. Policies are to be guided by knowledge and evidence. However, knowledge and evidence deficits exist in relation to the lived experience of disabled people. Undergraduate disabled students could decrease the knowledge deficit as researchers and knowledge producers. The numbers of disabled academic faculty are judged as being too low and efforts are under way to increase the number of disabled academics. Increasing the number of undergraduate disabled researchers might increase the available pool of disabled students that pursue an academic career. Given the important role research performed by undergraduate disabled students can play and given that many studies highlight problems for disabled students in post-secondary education in general, we used a scoping review approach to investigate the coverage of undergraduate disabled students as knowledge producers, including as researchers, in the academic literature. Using various search strategies, we obtained 1299 initial hits. However, only 15 had relevant content. No study investigated how undergraduate disabled students select their research topics or how they are enticed to pursue research projects outside of a course-based framework. No study looked at the linkage between being an undergraduate disabled researcher and career choices or using the obtained research skills on the undergraduate level in one's role as a community member after graduation. Our findings suggest an opportunity for many fields, ranging from disability studies to STEM education, to generate more empirical data and conceptual work on the role of undergraduate disabled students as knowledge producers including as researchers. Such studies could help to increase the numbers of undergraduate disabled students as knowledge producers, including researchers, which in turn could help to increase (a) the number of disabled academics, (b) the number of disabled students who perform research in the community after graduation, (c) the degree success of disabled students and (d) the knowledge available on the social situation of disabled people.

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“…The notion of a robot co-worker, at least in information-rich occupations, such as library work, appears to be gathering interest (Sanborn, 2015). For people with disabilities, a recent review article found generally positive anticipation of service and social robots, although accessibility (affordability and design) as well as labor competition were raised as concerns (Wolbring, 2016).…”

Section: Capability Building Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning futures with mixed sentience

Bricout

Sharma

Baker

et al. 2017

Futures

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Employment, Disabled People and Robots: What Is the Narrative in the Academic Literature and Canadian Newspapers?

Cited by 32 publications

References 88 publications

Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People

Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People

Undergraduate Disabled Students as Knowledge Producers including Researchers: A Missed Topic in Academic Literature

Learning futures with mixed sentience

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