Aim: To discuss what the work of Donna Haraway can contribute to disability studies The disability movement has debated the principle of normalisation, meaning among other things that all citizens should have equal access to society's services. The feminist technoscience scholar, Donna Haraway, has by her concept of situated knowledge, made the notion of equality concerning technology and professional practices problematic. Method: A qualitative study was conducted among students and teachers in special needs education to explore their use of IT. Further, a textual analysis of the Swedish IT-vision was conducted to understand how policymakers include societal differences (i.e. disability, gender) in their practices. Results: A situated knowledge perspective enables ways to question teachers' and policy-makers' practices as gendering and dis/abling. Conclusions: By relying on Haraway's perspective, where research starts from everyday practices, it is clear that policy-makers define relations between professionals' practices and I. It is in this definition, where it is argued that IT should be equal among all citizens, that gender and disability become constructed. Further, the teachers' practices are closely intertwined with the ITvision, by the policy-makers' demand to use IT as a pedagogical tool. Thus, they construct/challenge gendering/disabling practices.
Godkänd; 2004; Bibliografisk uppgift: Serie: Journal of intellectual disability research, 2004:48, 0964-2633; 20070220 (ysko)