Gerontechnology for who? A responsible framework for diversity and inclusivity for health technology

Abstract

Purpose Gerontechnology is a grouping of technologies made to benefit older adults, as well as a research field that facilitates discussion of important mitigation of age-related issues for this age group. There are over 727 million people aged 65+ in the world today. This is projected to double in the next 30 years, increasing from 9.3% to 16% of the global population (UN DESA, 2020). This radical demographic change calls for new technological solutions (gerontechnologies), geron-policies, and geron-social re-structuring. But it is important to not homogenize this rather heterogeneous group. In this presentation I question which people are included in the plans, narratives, infrastructure networks of gerontechnology. In doing so I raise the question of “gerontechnology for who?” I question how gerontechnology, albeit being a radical opportunity to better lives of older adults in general, also holds the power to reinforce misogynistic trends in technological advancement, where the standard body is still based on male and not female standards. I highlight the importance of decolonizing technology access issues (Mohamed, 2020) where the rich Global North hogs resources (e.g. medical staff, and equipment) and the importance of reframing the discourse of healthy ageing so that is not based around assumptions of being (able)bodied. I also highlight other exclusive parameters, e.g. heteronormativity, racial injustice, and class-based discrimination through technology (Viswanathan et al., 2017). I question how gerontechnology in the era of Artificial Intelligence can facilitate an inclusive and diverse discourse where older adults of all shapes and sizes and with multitudes of backgrounds can benefit from the vast technological possibilities this group of technologies can bring.Method This study is based on a triangulation of qualitative interviews from several European funded research projects assessing how gerontechnology impacts end-users as well as desk-research to map the signification for a wide array of heterogenous user-groups. This paper is primarily focused on social robots as a vanguard of gerontechnological development and is informed by the EU Horizon 2020 projects Robotics4EU and LIFEBOTS-EXCHANGE, where a wide array of expert interviews, co-production activities, and end-user studies have shown that there is a need for an interrogative study that unwraps the diversity of the perceived, planned for, and actual users of gerontechnologies like social robots. Results and Discussion I interpret these findings through Science and Technology Studies (STS), with a critical analytical lens using Script-theory (Fallan, 2008; Akrich, 1987) and Non-User perspectives (Wyatt, 2003) and present a preliminary diversity model for gerontechnology. I discuss how this unwrapping can benefit a deeper socio-technical understanding of who are included in the infrastrucurization of gerontechnology (and in what way) and who are excluded from benefitting from these technologies and debates.