Do Algorithms Know Your Body Better Than You?

The diagnostic regime of targeted advertising has much to teach us about how we categorize and label disability

Credit: Franki Chamaki/Unsplash

Earlier this year, a survey appeared on my Facebook feed: “We need your expert insight on mobility aids.” Intrigued, I clicked through and found myself being vetted for my preferred wheelchair style. A week later, my feed served up an advertisement for an extra loud alarm clock for people with hearing impairments, and was followed by ads for vision aid devices, postpartum depression support, and nutritional counseling.

I do identify as disabled, and I research disability studies as part of my work. So it makes sense that I might be targeted for disability-related products. But I don’t have any expert insight on wheelchairs or any other type of mobility aid because I’ve never used them. Ironically for a website that documents every event and relationship in my life, neither my body nor my mind corresponds to what these online advertisements have crudely judged me to be. Is the assumption that all people researching disability are disabled, and that all disabled people use a wheelchair?

I wasn’t offended; I’m actually attracted to the boldness of these algorithms that implicitly diagnose me and provide a “prescription” of sorts, in…