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

TL;DR

This paper critiques the focus on independence in assistive technology, proposing relational sovereignty as a new goal that emphasizes users' power to choose between independence and interdependence, supported by theoretical analysis and design interventions.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of relational sovereignty as an alternative to autonomy in social assistive technology and provides a framework and interventions for operationalizing this shift.

Findings

Analysis of 90 papers reveals a focus on independence.

Relational sovereignty centers user choice and power.

Four design interventions support sovereignty-centered AT design.

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.