Against Technoableism argues against the idea that disability is a problem that needs to or can be solved with technology. Going off of the social model of disability, this book shows that disability is not the problem, it's society (and its ableism) that is the problem. The author does a great job discussing a wide range of disabilities and their intersections with race, gender, sexuality, etc. as well as the history of technoableism relating to different types of disabilities. Shew discusses the need for the inclusion of disabled viewpoints when designing technology, and how people who are disabled are the experts on what technology does or does not work for them.

I work in web accessibility, so I encounter a different version of technology ableism in my day to day work, but I would've still liked to see more mention of web accessibility in the book. Overall I learned a lot from reading this book, and really enjoyed it!

I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own.
I am an Autistic, Wheelchair User with multiple undiagnosed disabilities so as soon as I saw this book I knew I had to read it.

I definitely need to find more books like this!
It was really interesting but didn't cover topics in a way that was triggering for me, something that puts me off reading books that represent me especially non fiction.
It wasn't what I was expecting to read about but I loved it nonetheless. It covers a lot of topics I would never have thought about and I really found it interesting thinking about how disabled astronauts would be better prepared for space than pre-disabled people. (I have a huge interest in space and I am definitely going to research this further.)
I could relate to a lot of the struggles that were talked about and learnt a lot about other types of disabilities too.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about being disabled and how to be a better ally.

So, I am the exact audience for this book. Like, really, if the author was writing a book just for me as a human, it would be this book. I'm a disabled mother of two disabled kids. We all use technology in different ways for our disabilities. I'm a trained self-advocate who just finished a comprehensive disability justice advocacy training program that has changed how I think about disability and myself as a member of the disabled community. That's the background with which I came to this book.

First off, I think I highlighted more than i didn't. The central premise of the book was that the pervasive idea out in the world that technology can and should "cure" disability is ableist at its core. The goal itself of curing or ending disability by making a disabled person conform to the ableist world is not empowering to them, but erases them. The author takes a long time explaining and educating about disability justice and the experience of living as a disabled person in a world not made for you to fit in.

I have a lot of knowledge and background about disability justice and the social model of disability, and this was one of the best explainers I've read. The book is compact (150 pages) and still is able to give the reader the high level themes they need to understand the premise of the book and how their point of view may be incorrect.

As a member of the disability justice movement who has a lot of background knowledge, I also found this book really useful. I liked the parts where it described how the disability community coming together as a unite, even though we have very different support needs and ways to move through the world. It helped me conceptualize the communities I've been joining and that I want to find. I also really liked the discussions of technology and how to discuss it in a way where it shows that it's for adaptation and is a CHOICE of the disabled person rather than a way to cure or erase disability.

There was a line I underlined more than once because it has been a mantra of mine for awhile now, and I really liked seeing it in the book. It was something similar to inclusion by design not accommodation. The idea that we won't need so much technology to adapt to the world if the world is made with the understanding that we exist.

I don't want to give the entire book in this little essay, but this was well well worth the 5 stars I gave it. It's a short book that is a powerful look at disability justice, technology, and personal experiences. If you plan to work with or join a disability community, or see adaptive technology as something you're excited about, this is for you. No, really, every speech, physical, and occupational therapist NEEDS to read this (I'm going to buy copies for the ones seeing my kids, that's for sure).

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is really important. It's short and easily digestible, which I imagine would be great for someone just getting into disability justice; but its length has no bearing on its density or the wealth of information held within its pages. While far from an expert, I'm also certainly not a newcomer to a lot of the terms and concepts discussed in this book, but I still learned a lot (the chapter on autism/neurodivergence is really wide-reaching and dense, and the final chapter on disabled people in the future was fascinating) and had tons to think about. Certain parts of this book can be really hard to get through (on purpose)—disability history is fraught with abuse and trauma, and discussions of that history are fundamental to understanding disability technology as it exists today and could exist tomorrow. It's worth it, though, to gain a deeper understanding of the past, present, and future of disability tech and disability justice, and I absolutely recommend this book for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.

Against Technoableism is a 150 page book about "disabled stories that aren't catered for a nondisabled audience." It examines technology as it relates to ableism and pushes back against a society that tends to think of tech as a "solution". There is a huge bias in favor of living/moving/behaving in a 'nondisabled way'. Technology is taken broadly in this book and includes therapy, prosthetics, Pokemon, etc.

This book is extremely well researched and even leads to other sources. Shew frequently acknowledges when she would lean on other voices and includes scientists, fiction (True Biz), poems (The Magic Wand), and blogs as references.

As the author intended, the book chapters could definitely function in any order or read one at a time. My favorite chapter was "New Legs Old Tricks," as it allowed Shew to intertwine her own personal experience and depth of knowledge about amputation. The book as a whole could have been expanded. The chapters were introductions to many different topics within disability activism.

Thank you NetGalley and W W Norton for the eArc.

This is a great non-fiction read that not only discusses "technoableism" but also gives an approachable introduction to a lot of common theory around disability justice. This was an excellent, quick, and common sense read that would be great for everyone to pick up. It really made me think. I especially appreciated the discussion about the common "tropes" around disability, the inquiry into terminology and language, and the chapter on neurodivergence and neurodiversity (and what the difference is). The writing is clear, engaging, and thought-provoking. I also think that the cover is eye-catching and fun-looking, conveying that this isn't a stuffy, inaccessible academic work. It hits the balance between a professional and knowledgeable author, with an approachable writing style. The concepts come across clearly, even if you aren't already familiar with disability theory. Truly a must-read. I will be recommending this to the purchaser of adult non-fiction at my library.

Essential reading for anyone who interacts with the disabled community. And, spoiler alert for anyone who thinks otherwise, that means everyone. Shew's natural humor and lightheartedness have the spoon full of sugar impact to aid in absorbing huge foundational, intellectual, and emotional knowledge.

As an "invisibly" disabled person myself, this book resonates on the threads of imposter syndrome that plague my access of resources. It digs into the parts of my soul cluttered with the debris of person first language and HR executives telling our company that we are to say "differently abled" now.
But there is so much value in the research for this book for readers not yet disabled and disabled alike, as the first-person experiences of those with a wide array of disabilities are given platform and amplification.

Was provided ARC copy in exchange for honest review.

I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic, concise primer on disability politics and technology - especially relevant as technology plays an increasingly large role in the world. I felt that there was more that could be said, but it works well as an introduction to disability studies, and it pushes abled people (or TABs, as Shew writes) to reconsider the praise they give to seemingly "revolutionary" technologies.

Every word of this book was so critically important and enlightening. As I learn more about my own autistic dx and how it intersects with my work in the tech industry, I found this book deeply fascinating! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

I appreciated this anthology about technoableism and the questions around do we actually need to "fix" disability, and how can we accommodate those with disabilities? It was a quick but powerful read.

I work in the brain injury community so this topic really interested me. So many times we have different ways for people to cope with their injury, and most of the time it involves some sort of technology- rides through uber, using specific apps, etc. This was the first time I heard the term "technoableism" but is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed as we will be seeing bigger and bigger gaps between those well versed in technology, and those that are not, and therefore left behind.

I hope that the people who need this are able to find and read this book. It's an essential reading in the technology offered to disabled people in our era.

As a paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida who is now also dealing with bladder cancer, I found myself captivated by Ashley Shew's passionate and well informed disability manifesto "Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement."

Just today, I was having a conversation with my supervisor about internalized ableism and my tendency, especially since my cancer diagnosis, to apologize for my disability within the work setting.

Ugh.

At less than 200 pages, "Against Technoableism" is a relentless, breathlessly paced, and well structured exploration of exactly why we need to eliminate technoableism - "the harmful belief that technology is a “solution” for disability; that the disabled simply await being “fixed” by technological wizardry; that making society more accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority."

Quoting many of the top voices in disability, including many of whom I consider friends, Shew has crafted an invaluable resource and introduction to disability expertise that considers mobility devices, medical infrastructure, neurodivergence, and the crucial relationship between disability and race. Even as someone with a lifelong disability, I found "Against Technoableism" informative and incredibly engaging.

I will confess that I occasionally found "Against Technoableism" so fast-paced that it was confusing with a narrative structure that transcended technoableism and entered culture, disability history, and much more. For example, while I've long known about the connection between the Nazis and disability Shew added layers of depth that will prove enlightening to nearly all but those who've truly researched the subject.

Shew truly raises the valuable question "Who needs improvement?" with "Against Technoableism," a pushing back against the frequent narrative that the disabled simply are awaiting being "fixed" by technological wizardry rather than being uniquely equipped to navigate a challenging world.

Ashley Shew is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech, and specializes in disability studies and technology ethics and who recognizes that the future is disabled and creating a more accessible future is vital.

"Against Technoableism" is incredibly insightful, frequently funny, narratively fierce, and absolutely uncompromising. In other words, it's the kind of book you won't be able to stop thinking about and you'll absolutely want to share.

Against Technoableism is a book exploring the ways in which technology and disability interact and arguing against the tendency towards seeing tech as a way of "improving" disabled people's lives by solving problems, and looking at the broader structures that create these problems. A short book that stands as a manifesto arguing for listening to disabled people when it comes to technology, what they need, and what the future should be, it explores a range of experiences and considers work by disabled scholars and advocates to set out some of the current world and how we may need to navigate the world in the future. The concluding chapter considers the changing world and how disability may become the norm, so we should start thinking differently.

This book is a useful introduction to the idea of technoableism and to helping people question technological solutionism in general: the idea that technology can solve all of the world's problems. Shew combines personal experience with theory and the experiences of others, meaning despite the short space the book does cover a fair amount, though it is due to size not able to explore all areas of technoableism and how it relates to different disabilities, but rather has a few key examples. The book is very US-focused, as that's where the author is based, so some elements are less relevant to readers from other places, but there's plenty that's more generally applicable too, especially the book's key arguments. For people for whom this topic is very new, this book provides an accessible introduction to ideas about technology, disability, and who holds the expertise.

Against Technoableism is a quick book balancing personal experiences with extensive research on the topic of disability, particularly the social model of disability. This book will deepen your understanding of what the disabled community is actually looking for in regards to their own access—something that is often ignored, as nondisabled tech creators search for a “cure” instead, without consulting the very people they seek to help.

Thank you to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for providing me with an ARC of this title.

By focusing on disability as an individual problem, not a social one, abled people often focus on disability technologies as the "solution" to eliminate the disability altogether. But what do disabled people think? This insightful (and compact) overview of disability, ableism, and the role of tech in the lives of disabled people is a real eye-opener. Though many disabled people may rely on tech to help them live their lives, they take a different approach to the tech, aware of the many unresolved concerns about those technologies and learning to piece together different types of technology appropriate to different needs and situations in their lives.

This book really helps to unpack the various ways ableism prevents us from seeing how tech might or might not be beneficial to disabled people, and it stresses the point that the experts on disability are the people who experience it -- and that we need to listen to the voices of disabled people to address the ways they still feel left out of society today.

An excellent addition to the growing body of work centering disabled voices and perspectives. 5 stars.

Thank you, W. W. Norton and Company and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.