Technology and Disability

Ashley Shew’s publications 

Books and Textbooks

• Herdegen, Hanna, and Ashley Shew (eds.). forthcoming. Technology & Disability Open Educational Resource. [Currently editing and beta testing.]
• Shew, Ashley. 2023. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Shew, Ashley. 2017. Animal Constructions and Technological Knowledge. Lexington Books.

Edited Volumes

• Garnar, Andrew, and Ashley Shew, eds. 2020. Feedback Loops: Pragmatism about Science and Technology. Lexington Books.
• Miller, Glen, and Ashley Shew, eds. 2020. Reimagining Philosophy and Technology, Reinventing Ihde. Springer. 
• Pitt, Joseph C., and Ashley Shew, eds. 2017. Spaces for the Future: A Companion to Philosophy of Technology. Routledge.

Select Journal Articles

• Grunsven, Janna van, and Ashley Shew. 2025. “Walking and Talking, Rocking and Rolling: Moral Visibility in Contexts of Technology Development.” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal Special Issue on Neurodiversity and Madness, guest edited by Quill Kukla and Rua M. Williams. 34: 2/3, p. 155-190. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/958992/pdf
• Earle, Joshua, and Ashley Shew. 2024. Cyborg-Technology Relations. The Journal of Human-Technology Relations 2(1): 1-19.  
• Blanchard, Enka, and Ashley Shew. 2022. Disabled Dimensionality: Normative Expectations’ Impacts on disabled perceptions and spacialities. L’espace Politique [Online], 45 | 2021-03.
• Shew, Ashley. 2022. How to Get a Story Wrong. Including Disability 1(1).
• Shew, Ashley. 2020. From a Figment of Your Imagination: Disabled Marginal Cases and Underthought Experiments. Human Affairs [Special Issue on Philosophical Reflection and Technological Change] 30 (4): 608-616.
• McCall, Cassandra, Ashley Shew, Denise R. Simmons, Marie C. Paretti, and Lisa D. McNair. 2020. Exploring student disability and professional identity: navigating sociocultural expectations in U.S. undergraduate civil engineering programs. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2020.  Ableism, Technoableism, and Future AI. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Volume  39( 1), 40-85. 
• Nelson, Mallory Kay, Ashley Shew, and Bethany Stevens. 2019. Transmobility: Possibilities in Cyborg (Cripborg) Bodies. Catalyst, Special Issue on Crip Technoscience. 5(1).
• Shew, Ashley, and Keith Johnson. 2018. Companion Animals as Technologies in Biomedical Research. Perspectives on Science 26(3).

Book Chapters

• Qualls, Lydia, Lyndon Frommer, and Ashley Shew. forthcoming. “Multi-disciplinary Collaboration, Representation, and Fair Research.” In The Handbook of Disability-Affirmative Systemic Therapy: A Marriage and Family Therapist’s Guide to Effective Clinical Care with Disabled Clients and their Families, edited by Manasi Shankur. Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.
• Blanchard, Enka, Aurelian Blanchard, and Ashley Shew. 2025. “404 Not Found: Quantitative Methods in Disability Studies.” In SAGE Handbook on Data & Society.
• Shew, Ashley. 2024. “Fighting for Disability Visibility.” In Dear Higher Ed: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain, edited by Menah Pratt Clark, Mercedes Ramirez Fernandez, and Michele Deramo. University of Minnesota Libraries.
• Shew, Ashley. 2024. “The Leg Chapter.” In Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, edited by Alice Wong. Vintage Books.
• Shew, Ashley. 2023. “Speculating on Upstanding Norms.” In After Universal Design: The Disability Design Revolution, edited by Elizabeth Guffey. Bloomsbury Academic Press.
• Shew, Ashley. 2021. “The Minded Body in Technology and Disability,” in Shannon Vallor (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Technology. Oxford. [Link to Table of Contents]
• Shew, Ashley. 2020. “Technological Knowledge in Disability Design.” In Feedback Loops, edited by Andrew Garnar and Ashley Shew. Lexington Books. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2017. “Animals in Philosophy of Technology,” in Joseph C. Pitt and Ashley Shew (eds.), Spaces for the Future: A Companion to Philosophy of Technology. Routledge. [Shew Animals in Phil of Tech PDF]
• Shew, Ashley. 2008. “Nanotechnology’s Future: Considerations for the Professional,” in Fritz Allhoff and Patrick Lin (eds.), Nanotechnology & Society: Current and Emerging Ethical Issues, pages 127-146. Springer. [Nanotechs Future Considerations PDF]
• Baird, Davis, and Ashley Shew. 2004. “Probing the History of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy,” in Davis Baird, Alfred Nordmann, and Joachim Schummer (eds.), Discovering the Nanoscale, pages 145-156. Amsterdam: IOS Press. [Baird Shew Probing History STM PDF]

Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings

• Shuey, O., K. Afsari, V. Azamnia, C. Bruning, L. Frommer, A. Shew, and D.P. Williams. 2025. “Beyond Critique: Bringing the Humanities into Technology Research,” 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science, and Technology (ETHICS), Evanston, IL, USA, 2025, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ETHICS65148.2025.11098337.
• McCall, Cassandra; Paretti, Marie C.; Shew, Ashley; Simmons, Denise R.; McNair, Lisa D. 2022. Redefining and reconceptualizing disability identity in civil engineering. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference.
• Groen-McCall, C., McNair, L. D. , Paretti, M. C., Shew, A., and Simmons, D. R. 2019. “Exploring Professional Identity Formation in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Students Who Experience Disabilities: Establishing Definitions of Self,” American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference.
• Groen-McCall, C., McNair, L. D., Paretti, M. C., Shew, A., & Simmons, D. R. 2018. Experiencing disability: A preliminary analysis of professional identity development in U.S. undergraduate civil engineering students. Proceedings of the Australasian Engineering Education Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand.
• Groen, C., McNair, L.D., Paretti, M.C., Simmons, D.R., and Shew, A. 2018. “Exploring Professional Identity Development in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Students Who Experience Disabilities.” Proceedings of the 2018 American Society for Education Annual Conference and Exposition. Salt Lake City, UT: ASEE.
• Groen, C., Paretti, M. C., McNair, L. D., Simmons, D. R., & Shew, A. 2018. “Experiencing disability in undergraduate civil engineering education: An initial examination of the intersection of disability and professional identities.” In Proceedings of the 2018 Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD) Annual Conference, Crystal City, VA.

Select Essays, Creative Writing, Blogs and Commentaries

• Shew, Ashley, Damien P. Williams, and Joshua Earle. 2025. “Technology and Disability.” APA Syllabus Showcase, edited by Cara Greene, June 18. https://blog.apaonline.org/2025/06/18/technology-and-disability-ashley-shew-damien-p-williams-and-joshua-earle/
• Shuey, Oliver, and Ashley Shew. 2024. “Engineering and Embodiment.” APA Philosophy and Technology Blog, edited by Charles Taben, April 11. https://blog.apaonline.org/2024/04/11/engineering-and-embodiment/ 
• Shew, Ashley. 2023. “Symposium Introduction.” Blog Symposium on Addressing Technoableism: Reforming Infrastructure and Disability Representation (guest edited by Ashley Shew). Harvard’s Petrie-Flom Bill of Health, Sept 25-30. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/09/25/technoableism-disability-ashley-shew/ 
• Shew, Ashley, and Hanna Herdegen. 2023, August 1. “Engineering Ethics and Narratives for Technological Imagination.” National Academy of Engineering Perspectives [Blog], August 1. https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/08/engineering-ethics-and-narratives-for-technological-imagination 
• Shew, Ashley. 2023. “Guest Editor’s Introduction: The Future is Disabled.” All Access Special Issue, July/August 2023, MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/06/28/1074350/future-is-disabled/
• Shew, Ashley. 2024. “The Promise of Prosthetics is a Curse” (book chapter from Disability Intimacy, edited by Alice Wong). Electric Lit, April 30.
• Shew, Ashley. 2023 (October 3). “Chemo, 7 Years Later” [poem]. JAMA Poetry and Medicine. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2810029
• Shew, Ashley. 2021. “Forearm Crutches” [poem]. Wordgathering 15 (4), Winter 2021. https://wordgathering.com/vol15/issue4/poetry/shew/
• Olson, Cora, Ashley Shew, Miranda Fleck, and Chiara Tartaglino. 2021, September 21. “The Trouble with Distorted Histories.” Insider Higher Education. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2021, March 3. “Disability Disclosure in the Classroom.” Inside Higher Education. 
• Svyantek, Martina, Scott Dexter, and Ashley Shew. 2020, Dec 1. “Now What? Adding Accessibility Mid-Stream.” Academe Magazine (American Academy of University Professors Publication). 
• Shew, Ashley. 2020, Oct 7. “An Interview with Jai Virdi, Author of Hearing Happiness.” Nursing Clio [History of Medicine Blog]. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2020, Sept 9. “Passed, but not Enacted: The Law Is Not the Power.” All of Us [Blog of the Disability History Association]. 
• Shew, Ashley. “Let Covid19 Expand Awareness of Disability Tech.” Nature 581 (May 5, 2020), page 9. URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01312-w
• Shew, Ashley. 2019. “Stop Depicting Technology As Redeeming Disabled People.” Nursing Clio, April 23.
• Shew, Ashley. 2018. “Different Ways of Moving Through the World.” Logic Magazine, Issue 5: Failure. URL: https://logicmag.io/05-failure/ [Shew Different Ways of Moving Through the World PDF]
• Shew, Ashley. 2018. “Water of Life.” Medium, November 26. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2017. “The Long Way Around,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 17. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2017. “Finding My Amputee Brethren.” Nursing Clio, July 28. 
• Shew, Ashley. 2017. “Inventing the Future – for all of us.” Opinion/Letter to the Editor. Collegiate Times, May 1. 

Select Podcasts 

• Pondering Thoughts Podcast with K. Wilkes, recorded April 13, 2024. https://open.spotify.com/show/6PIUKwDXvInyHiKbyi4TWp?si=tkxhSKazT0WdQVoGTg412A&utm_source=copy-link&nd=1&dlsi=02d8486b4cf64ace 
• Creative Living Book Club (live discussion), hosted by and discussion with Gaelynn Lea, April 14, 2024. https://gaelynnlea.substack.com/p/post-1-creative-living-for-every 
• Techtonics with Mark Hurst. WFMU. January 22, 2024. https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/136182 
• Factually! with Adam Conover. Recorded November 28, 2023. Released December 13, 2023. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577 
• Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria. Recorded December 1, 2023. Released December 4, 2023. https://www.carasantamaria.com/podcast/ashley-shew 
• Disability Rights Florida You First Podcast, hosted by Maddie Crowley and Keith Casebonne. Interviewed together with Mallory Kay Nelson. November 30, 2023. https://disabilityrightsflorida.org/podcast/story/episode_57 
• The Pulse (Accessible Media) with Joeita Gupta. Recorded August 2023. Released Oct 14, 2023. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0BfpxlEtNvwX7slE4Zsj04 
• The Received Wisdom Podcast with Shobita Parasarathy and Jack Stilgoe. 2023, October 18. https://shobita-parthasarathy.squarespace.com/the-received-wisdom/2023/10/18/episode-36-electric-cars-the-problems-with-tech-biographies-and-against-technoableism-ft-ashley-shew 
• Tech Nation with Moira Gunn. October 10, 2023. https://podcasts.apple.com/iq/podcast/episode-23-41-rethinking-being-human/id876042622?i=1000631129103 
• Think (KERA, NPR) with host Khrys Boyd. Recorded Oct 3. Aired October 10, 2023. https://think.kera.org/2023/10/10/people-with-disabilities-dont-need-fixing-the-world-does/ 
• Science Friday (NPR) with guest host Dessa. Recorded Sept 26. Aired September 29, 2023. https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/technology-ableism-disability/ 
• Let’s Grab Coffee with SunAh Laybourn, WYXR Memphis. Recorded September 8, 2023. Aired September 18, 2023. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-grab-coffee/id1558176877
• McCray, Nicholas. 2022. STS Shorts #4. Ashley Shew Guest on Eclectic Spacewalk Podcast. 
• Knowles, Scott. 2021, Sept 2. Ashley Shew Guest on Covid Calls, #333. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLnoZ0cK8H4
• Anderson, Amanda. 2020. Meeting Street Podcast [Brown University], Episode 1: Disability Studies and the Pandemic, October 2, 2020. 
• Wong, Alice. 2019. Disability Visibility Project, Episode 66: Cyborgs. December 18, 2019. https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2019/12/18/ep-66-cyborgs/
• “Dr. Doolittle.” Podcast: Flash Forward with Rose Eveleth. (Interviewed about Animal Constructions and Technological Knowledge.) August 14, 2018. URL: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2018/08/14/dr-doolittle/
• “Enter the Exos.” Podcast: Flash Forward with Rose Eveleth. (Interviewed + a former student interviewed.) May 8, 2018. URL: https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2018/05/08/enter-the-exos/

Interviews & Research Coverage

• smith, s.e. 2024. Feb 14. “Automating Ableism.” The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/24066641/disability-ableism-ai-census-qalys 
• Katz, Sarah. 2024. “How Do We Create an Accessible, Tech Forward World?” The Road to Disability Inclusion, The Disability Philanthropy Forum Annual Report 2023. https://disabilityphilanthropy.org/resource/disability-philanthropy-forum-2023-annual-report/ 
• Borowsky, Larry. 2023, Nov 8. “THE PROS AND CONS OF WHIZ-BANG AMPUTEE TECHNOLOGY.” Amplitude Magazine. https://livingwithamplitude.com/amputee-author-ashley-shew-against-technoableism/ 
• Kinross, Louise. 2023, Oct 11. “What needs fixing? Disabled people? Or a built world that shuts them out?”  BLOOM (Blog of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital). https://hollandbloorview.ca/stories-news-events/BLOOM-Blog/what-needs-fixing-disabled-people-or-built-world-shuts-them-out 
• Book Bites, The Next Big Idea Club. 2023, Oct 14. https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/technoableism-rethinking-needs-improvement-bookbite/45570/ 
• Williamson, Ashley. 2023, Sept 28. “ Research workshop gives voice to disability community.” VT News.https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/09/no-longer-overlooked–research-workshop-gives-voice-to-disabilit.html 
• Bartlett, Kelsey. 2023, May 18. “Research team receives grant to launch ‘Just Dis Tech’ project.” VT News. https://liberalarts.vt.edu/news/articles/2023/05/liberalarts-just-dis-tech-project.html
• Paquet, Hélène. 2022, July 22. “ À elle seule, la technologie ne révolutionnera pas la vie des personnes handicapées.” Slate (French edition).  
• Spinney, Laura. 2022, Feb 16. Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore. Nature 602: 383-385. 
• Mandel, Savannah. 2021. “Three Cheers for Pioneers: A Review of Outer Space Anthropology.” Anthropology Now 13(2): 111-122.
• Zheng, Elise. 2021, Nov 1. “Covid, disability, and work adaptation.” The Thinker, Issue 61 [publication written in Chinese].
• Boyle, Eve. 2021, August 10. “Research from the field of science and technology studies offers strategies for broadening participation in STEM.” NSF Science Matters Blog. 
• Maryland Today Staff. 2021. “Disability Summit Examines Advances in Access, Equity.”Maryland Today, April 9. https://today.umd.edu/disability-summit-examine-advances-access-equity-dd10b911-cdf4-4bc6-b43d-09fb4b9596fa
• Perry, David. 2020. “Do-It-Yourselfers Lead Way to Disability Gains.” New York Times, June 14. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/style/assistive-technology.html
• Crane, Brent. 2020. “How Big Tech Gets Disability Wrong.” Folks, June 4. https://folks.pillpack.com/how-big-tech-gets-disability-wrong/
• Yong, Ed. 2020. “Covid-19 Can Last For Several Months.” The Atlantic. June 4. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/covid-19-coronavirus-longterm-symptoms-months/612679/
• Yong, Ed. 2020. “Our Pandemic Summer.” The Atlantic, April 15.  https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-summer-coronavirus-reopening-back-normal/609940/
• Pointer, Eric. “VT Assistant Professor Works to Include Disabled People In Products Meant for Them.” WFXR (local tv news). October 24, 2019. URL: 
• “Tech Project to Boost Accessibility at April 16 memorial, around campus,” Roanoke Times, May 4, 2019. 
• “NSF Award To Enable Research Into Technologies For Disability Community,” Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences News (also featured in VT News with this story), July 27, 2018. URL: https://www.news.liberalarts.vt.edu/2018/07/27/nsf-award-to-enable-research-into-technologies-for-disability-community/
• “Department of Science, Technology, and Society to celebrate its inaugural research day.” (Two students from STS 3284 interviewed.) April 25, 2018. URL: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2018/04/clahs-sts-research-day-2018.html
• ‘Sit Out’ at Virginia Tech Raises Awareness to challenges for disabled. Roanoke Times (front page), May 4, 2017. URL: http://www.roanoke.com/print_only/tab_master/sit-out-at-virginia-tech-raises-awareness-to-challenges-for/article_2eec3d0b-5596-5087-9c53-6890086299d2.html
• ‘Sit out’ hosted for equal access on campus. Collegiate Times, May 4 ,2017. URL: http://www.collegiatetimes.com/news/sit-out-hosted-for-equal-access-on-campus/article_7a2249d4-30ef-11e7-a808-730278195cb4.html
• Protesters at Virginia Tech ‘Sit Out’ against stairs without ADA ramps. 11 O’Clock News. WDBJ7 (TV Station), May 3, 2017. http://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Protesters-at-Virginia-Tech-Sit-Out-against-stairs-without-ADA-ramps-421250324.html

Stuff About Disabled People in Space – the real reason you are here, surely

• Mandel, Savannah. 2021. “Three Cheers for Pioneers: A Review of Outer Space Anthropology.” Anthropology Now 13(2): 111-122. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19428200.2021.1973332?scroll=top&needAccess=true
• Kramer, Miriam. 2021. “The New ‘Right Stuff’.” Axios, Feb 23. https://www.axios.com/astronauts-space-agencies-disabilities-285395bd-2df6-4fb0-a2b8-ca9442e930e9.html
• Bartels, Meghan. “Space Tourism is About to Push Civilian Medicine to the Final Frontier.” Space.com. May 29,2019. URL: https://www.space.com/space-tourism-flights-health-risks.html
• Becoming Interplanetary Event, Recording of Panels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2q2tlojDB4&feature=youtu.be
• Eveleth, Rose. “It’s Time to Rethink Who’s Best Suited for Space Travel.” Wired, January 27, 2019.
• T&D Blog Post: Disabled People In Space – Becoming Interplanetary