{"id":96903,"date":"2026-02-02T04:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=96903"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:48:09","slug":"disability-studies-professor-explores-double-bind-of-medical-technology-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/02_02_2026\/disability-studies-professor-explores-double-bind-of-medical-technology-in-new-book","title":{"rendered":"Disability Studies Professor Explores \u2018Double Bind\u2019 of Medical Technology in New Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Medical technology is often viewed as a neutral tool for healing or curing; however, for many disabled people, it represents a complex power dynamic between their own lived experiences and clinical expertise.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rebecca Monteleone, an associate professor of disability studies, explores this tension in her recently published book, \u201cThe Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority<\/a>\u201d (University of Minnesota Press, $25).<\/p>\n

\"Portrait

Dr. Rebecca Monteleone\u2019s recently published book, \u201cThe Double Bind of Disability,\u201d examines how disabled people are expected to manage their bodies through technology, yet are often denied authority over those decisions.<\/p><\/div>\n

The book, which was reviewed in the journal Science<\/a>, challenges the assumption that the tools used to treat conditions are separate from social values.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis book came from a pretty simple insight: technologies aren\u2019t neutral,\u201d Monteleone said. \u201cThe things we make and use change our worlds \u2014 physically, socially, politically. And yet, we tend to think about technology as separate from our social experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through a series of interviews that began in 2018, Monteleone focused on three specific case studies: prenatal genetic testing, deep brain stimulation and do-it-yourself artificial pancreas systems.<\/p>\n

In examining the lives of people who use these technologies, she identified what she termed the \u201cdouble bind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisabled people are expected to be responsible for managing and adapting their own \u2018bodyminds\u2019 to a world not built for them through medical intervention, but at the same time they constantly have their authority and lived experience questioned in favor of medical expertise,\u201d Monteleone said. \u201cIn clinical settings, when making decisions about using these technologies, people are expected to be responsible but never allowed to be authoritative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monteleone, who teaches the course Disability, Technology and Society, said the research has directly influenced her work in the classroom. To her students, she emphasized that the subject matter isn\u2019t so much about the technical as it is about the humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first started writing the book, I thought it was about technology,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what I found is that it\u2019s really a book about people and relationships and power.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book posits that to create better medical outcomes, clinicians and bioengineers must prioritize the firsthand expertise and experience of those living with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can do better,\u201d Monteleone said. \u201cWe can make medical technologies that reflect what people want and need. We just have to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Portrait<\/a>

Dr. Rebecca Monteleone\u2019s \u201cThe Double Bind of Disability\u201d examines how disabled people are expected to manage their bodies through technology, yet are often denied authority over those decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":96904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,498,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96918,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96903\/revisions\/96918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}