Not robots; Cyborgs — Furthering anti-ableist research in human-computer interaction

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Guberman, J. & Haimson, O. (2023). Not robots; Cyborgs — Furthering anti-ableist research in human-computer interaction. First Monday. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v28i1.12910

Journal or book title
First Monday
Publisher
University of Illinois Libraries
Publication date: 16 Jan 2023 Added to AutiHub: 17 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)

Abstract

This theoretical essay builds on existing literature to draw out the consequences of dehumanizing and disseminating autism discourses within the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Focusing mainly on narratives in HCI that frame autistic people as or like machines, we explore how dominant constructions of autism in HCI work to normalize the field’s complicity in violent autism intervention paradigms, despite HCI researchers’ well-meaning intentions. We work towards developing crip-cyborgs as an alternative framework for understanding autistic people (as opposed to computers or robots) and suggest crip technoscience as a framework for research based on this alternative understanding. In doing so, we hope to enroll misguided but well-intentioned researchers in dismantling anti-autistic ableism, both in and beyond HCI.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 3 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
37
With a DOI
33
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
5 / 37 (13.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 37 (8.1%)
References with detected author names
34 / 37 (91.9%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
68
From DOI or external metadata
68
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
25 / 68 (36.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 43 / 68 (63.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 68 (8.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 25 (24.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 67 (9.0%).
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