Assistive technology as a back door to normalizing use for able bodied people is a pretty common playbook at this point. AirPods use a ton of tech pioneered in the hearing aid, for example, and a lot of consumers were put off by them initially, but 10 years later they’ve become incredibly normalized.
So as much as I agree with you that people with paralysis are an optimal case, it’s good to be careful about allowing public perception to slowly morph over time
There are hearing aids that look identical to wireless earbuds. I sometimes wonder if people using them get judged because everyone assumes they’re talking to them with earbuds in.
Assistive technology as a back door to normalizing use for able bodied people is a pretty common playbook at this point. AirPods use a ton of tech pioneered in the hearing aid, for example, and a lot of consumers were put off by them initially, but 10 years later they’ve become incredibly normalized.
So as much as I agree with you that people with paralysis are an optimal case, it’s good to be careful about allowing public perception to slowly morph over time
There are hearing aids that look identical to wireless earbuds. I sometimes wonder if people using them get judged because everyone assumes they’re talking to them with earbuds in.