Relational Sovereignty

A framework proposed by Jang, Carrington and Begel (2026) as a new goal (telos) for socially assistive technology, defined as the recognised authority of a disabled person to choose their relational mode — acting independently or interdependently — and to set the terms on which that mode is upheld by other people, platforms, and institutions. Relational sovereignty introduces a second, orthogonal axis to the traditional independence–interdependence spectrum: whether the user's choice is conditional (imposed or revocable by gatekeepers) or recognised (honoured and materially supported). It reframes the central design question from 'Can they do it alone?' to 'Do they get to decide — and will that decision be upheld?'. The framework draws on Indigenous sovereignty discourse, the CARE and OCAP principles of data sovereignty, and crip technoscience, while cautioning against conceptual appropriation of decolonial politics.