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

Paper Title

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

Publication Info

• Topic area: Social accessibility and assistive technology design
• Keywords: assistive technology, social accessibility, autonomy, interdependence, relational sovereignty, disability studies, self-determination theory, symbolic interactionism, crip technoscience, power dynamics

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Assistive technology (AT) research has historically prioritized independence as the ultimate goal, often conflating autonomy with self-reliance. This framing fails to address the nuanced tensions between independence and interdependence, leading to unresolved challenges in user empowerment and relational dynamics.
• Significance: The independence-interdependence spectrum alone cannot explain why similar arrangements can feel empowering or oppressive depending on the context. Addressing this gap is crucial for designing equitable and effective assistive technologies that honor disabled users' preferences and agency.
• Motivation and related work: Prior work has documented the limitations of independence-focused AT, highlighting interdependence as both empowering and constraining. Theoretical frameworks such as self-determination theory, symbolic interactionism, and crip technoscience have provided insights into autonomy, social meaning, and governance but lack integration into a unified framework for addressing relational tensions in AT design.

Solution

• Proposed approach: Relational sovereignty—a framework that introduces the recognized authority to choose relational modes (independence or interdependence) and define the terms of interaction and success in assistive technology use.
• Novelty:
  1. Distinction between autonomy (volition) and sovereignty (recognized authority over relational terms).
  2. Introduction of the Relational Sovereignty Matrix, categorizing user experiences along relational mode (independence vs interdependence) and sovereignty (conditional vs recognized).
  3. Operationalization of sovereignty through modular, user-controlled components and design interventions.
  4. Integration of Indigenous and data sovereignty principles into AT design to foreground collective governance and reciprocal relationships.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Systematic analysis of 90 social accessibility papers from 2011–2025.
  • Thematic synthesis using three theoretical lenses: self-determination theory, symbolic interactionism, and posthumanist/crip technoscience perspectives.
  • Development of the Relational Sovereignty Matrix to classify user experiences.
  • Proposal of design interventions, including modular components and sovereignty-oriented reflective questions.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • The independence-interdependence spectrum fails to resolve tensions in AT design; sovereignty emerged as the missing dimension.
  • Relational sovereignty explains why similar relational arrangements (e.g., interdependence) can feel empowering or coercive depending on whether users have authority over the terms.
  • The Relational Sovereignty Matrix categorizes user experiences into four quadrants: Conditional Independence, Recognized Independence, Conditional Interdependence, and Recognized Interdependence.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Moves beyond independence-focused metrics by centering user-defined goals and relational preferences.
  • Provides a framework for addressing power dynamics and governance explicitly in AT design.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Constructivist grounded theory analysis of 90 papers, yielding 362 concepts and six thematic territories.
  • Meta-synthesis with theoretical triangulation to interpret findings through three lenses.
  • Examples from corpus analysis illustrate practical applications of relational sovereignty in diverse contexts.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Focused on English-language HCI publications, potentially excluding perspectives from disability studies, STS, and non-English outlets.
  • Predominantly Global North perspectives; future work should engage with diverse cultural understandings of autonomy and authority.
  • Further research needed to explore relational sovereignty at group scales and across cultural contexts.

Summary

This paper introduces relational sovereignty as a framework to resolve the independence-interdependence tension in assistive technology design. By analyzing 90 social accessibility papers and synthesizing insights from self-determination theory, symbolic interactionism, and crip technoscience, the authors propose a shift from autonomy as self-reliance to sovereignty as the recognized authority to define relational modes and goals. The Relational Sovereignty Matrix operationalizes this concept, distinguishing between independence/interdependence and conditional/recognized sovereignty. Practical interventions include modular, user-controlled components and reflective design questions. This work provides a principled approach to centering disabled users' preferences and agency, offering new directions for equitable and inclusive AT design.