Digitisation and Digital Participation of People with Disabilities
Only in recent years has research and development on new, digital technologies for people with disabilities gained in importance. Digitisation and algorithmic systems, including artificial intelligence, open up both opportunities and risks for those affected. Germany has committed itself to enabling equal digital participation and removing barriers to access (including the
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). However, legal regulations, e.g. on nondiscriminatory access, as well as the ethical framework for the use of these technologies still need to be (further) developed.
This raises a number of ethical and legal questions. For example, where are the limits for the use of robots in care? Initial approaches such as the risk-adapted regulatory approach for algorithmic systems of the Data Ethics Commission are presented below. A distinction is made between damage potential and regulatory requirements within the framework of the so-called criticality pyramid.
In addition, the White Paper and the Artificial Intelligence Act of the European Commission are discussed. The discussion on the regulation of
AI is thus underway, but people with disabilities are not sufficiently taken into account. This endangers their equal digital and social participation. On this topic, expert interviews were conducted with researchers from the fields of ethics and medicine as well as assistive technologies and with a self-help association of people with disabilities.
