From Autonomy to Sovereignty - A New Telos for Socially Assistive Technology

2026-03-08

AI Summary

This study critiques prevailing assistive technologies for overemphasizing independence while neglecting the agency and authentic preferences of disabled individuals within interdependent relationships. Integrating self-determination theory, symbolic interactionism, and posthuman and disability technoscience perspectives, it proposes “relational sovereignty” as a new design paradigm that centers users’ right to autonomously navigate between independence and dependence. Drawing on a synthesis of 90 scholarly works, the research develops a reflective design framework and sovereignty-oriented technological primitives, introducing a “sovereignty matrix” that embeds power, justice, and relationality at the core of assistive technology development. By shifting the design focus from “can it be done?” to “who has the right to decide?”, this work offers both theoretical grounding and practical pathways toward more equitable and inclusive assistive technologies.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

Social accessibility research faces a persistent tension: assistive technologies (AT) predominantly pursue independence, yet disabled people's experiences reveal rich preferences for interdependence. Our analysis of 90 papers from 2011-2025 uncovered that this stems from a deeper issue - which crystallized through dialogue with three bodies of theories: (1) self-determination theory (SDT), (2) symbolic interactionism, and (3) posthumanist perspectives and crip technoscience. SDT illuminates individual needs; symbolic interactionism addresses construction of social meaning and stigma; Posthumanist and crip technoscience together challenges normalcy, governance, and the human-machine boundary. Through their tensions, we identify relational sovereignty as an alternative telos - or goal - to autonomy. While our corpus equates autonomy with independence, sovereignty centers the power to choose between independence and interdependence. To operationalize this shift - from"Can they do it?"to"Do they get to decide?"- we introduce the Relational Sovereignty Matrix and four design interventions: (1) a sovereignty-centered reframing of SDT, (2) generative questions for justice-oriented reflection, (3) the idea of building through sovereign technical primitives, and (4) explicit consideration of power in AT design.

Problem

• assistive technology
• autonomy
• interdependence
• relational sovereignty
• disability

Innovation

• relational sovereignty
• assistive technology
• crip technoscience
• self-determination theory
• design justice