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Our mirrored selves: Reconfiguring disability and technology - Charmaine Brosnan
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One does, however, have to question the utopianism of cyberspace. And although negative and patronizing societal attitudes have long made people with disabilities the objects of oppression and discrimination, in life one must accept individualism. If we used the cyborgs (cybernetic organisms) of our imagination why can we not break down societal barriers and strive for optimism in 'real' life? According to some influential observers, disability may be a 'natural ill' that technology can supposedly overcome. In this view, the development of even more sophisticated, and increasingly computerized adaptive technologies - in the form of aids, appliances and accessible urban design - will eventually liberate disabled people from the social and economic constraints 'imposed' by their bodily impairments.

We must become aware of our own identities in the RL (real life), a thing many people become disengaged from since computer screens have become the new locations for our fantasies. Individuals are now using computer screens to become more comfortable with new ideas relating to identity, friendships even relationships and escapism. Due to the advancement of technological innovations, "computers are becoming mirrors for the modern self, in which we are capable of stepping through this looking glass into the world of cyberspace, which for more of us is becoming an aspect of everyday life."

Can the physical environment ever then achieve the optimism with which people look on virtual worlds? Should the focus of debates be moved away from the disabled themselves and onto the policies that shape the urban environment? This transition would allow the city to be viewed as a dynamic structure and not simply an arrangement of lifeless objects, a world that shifts the onus from the disabled onto those who actually produce and reproduce exclusionary environments.

Charmaine Brosnan is currently undertaking a two year research masters on 'The new geographies of ICT: an analysis of the impacts of Information and Communication Technology on the social worlds of people with disabilities within an Irish context' in the Department of Geography, University College Cork under the supervision of Dr. Denis Linehan.