Secure, Convenient, Accessible, and Smart: a Dismediating Prehistory of Smart Domestic Media in the late 20th Century United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54103/2036-461X/30556Keywords:
disability, accessibility, domesticity, smartness, discourseAbstract
Prehistories of smart domestic technologies often center on the conveniences and futuristic visions of twentieth century homes, where technologies of home governance offered to increase security, ease, and control of domestic life. Often missing from these analyses are considerations of the representational and material roles of disability in the introduction and domestication of mundane domestic media. Looking to smoke detectors and garage door openers, this article posits that promotional discourses of security and convenience prioritized nondisabled perspectives even as the devices increased accessibility for many. The accessibility fostered by these technologies, which disabled people often used as platforms for further innovation, offers a compelling third trajectory for understanding the promises and limits of “smartness.”
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