Sociotechnical Identity

The aspect of personal identity that is constructed and expressed through the technologies a person uses. In assistive technology research, sociotechnical identity refers to how AT serves as a vehicle conveying both functional ability and social identity. The concept recognizes that personal technologies—whether mainstream devices or assistive devices—become meaningful artifacts that shape how users present themselves to others and how they are perceived. AT designs that conflict with a user's desired sociotechnical identity may be abandoned even when functionally effective.