2. Ableist Technology*

‘Assistive technology’ (AT), which often shows up in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes, implies that its users need help—that they are, implicitly, deficient in some way. Digital-technology practitioners developing AT consequently often assume they are ‘helping’ the disabled through activities such as software coding assignments, development projects, and hackathons. This narrative is reproduced in the curricular guidelines for computing degree programmes. As critics have illustrated, however—using concepts such as disability dongle, technoableism, and ableist accessibility—this form of digital technology practice can reproduce and reinscribe ableism. The term AT is a term borne out of ableism. This chapter argues that as a corrective, educators should address ableism more centrally. To help them do so, we need to rename assistive technology as ableist technology.