How AI Can Improve Life With a Disability — And Why It Must
Living with a disability is not the same as being “unable.” That distinction matters — and in my opinion, it's often lost on the people building the technologies that shape our lives.
As someone with Osteogenesis Imperfecta — a condition often referred to as “brittle bone disease” — I’ve spent my entire life navigating a world that wasn’t designed for me. I’m a wheelchair user. I’ve had to think creatively about access, tools, interfaces, and independence in ways that most people simply never have to.
But here’s the thing: I don’t want sympathy. I want systems that work.
And that’s why I believe AI has enormous potential to transform life for disabled people — not by being flashy or futuristic, but by solving the daily pain points that most people take for granted.
Assistive Tech Is Just the Beginning
AI-powered assistive technology is already making waves — from smart prosthetics to eye-tracking systems and voice-controlled devices. But these are just the early, visible examples.
What excites me more is how AI can embed itself quietly but powerfully into the fabric of our daily lives, giving people with disabilities more autonomy, efficiency, and dignity.
For example:
- Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant may seem basic, but for someone with limited mobility or strength (as brittle bone conditions often cause), being able to control the lights, answer the door, or adjust the thermostat without moving is a big deal.
- Computer vision systems can help those with visual impairments identify objects, read street signs, or even detect people in their environment.
- Predictive text and dictation tools powered by natural language processing reduce the burden of physical typing — something that can be genuinely exhausting depending on muscle tone, joint pain, or upper body mobility.
And these aren't “special features” — they’re built on the same AI that everyone else is using. That’s the point. When accessibility is a default, not a bolt-on, everyone benefits.
AI as a Personal Assistant — Not Just a Tool
From my perspective, the next evolution is seeing AI less as a gadget and more as a true cognitive and logistical assistant.
Imagine AI that understands your routine, anticipates your needs, and helps you manage your world.
- It reminds you to take your medication — and reorders it automatically when you’re running low.
- It books accessible transport for your appointments and checks the route for pavement drop-offs or broken lifts.
- It generates templated emails, books meetings, or handles bureaucratic paperwork — because frankly, dealing with disability-related admin is a full-time job in itself.
For many of us, especially wheelchair users, it’s not the disability itself that limits us — it’s the layers of red tape, the inaccessible infrastructure, and the mental overhead of managing life in a world not built for us.
If AI can help take just some of that cognitive load off our shoulders, that’s a game-changer.
Breaking Barriers to Employment
In my opinion, one of the most overlooked benefits of AI for disabled people is how it can level the playing field at work.
Remote work tools, voice coding, AI-assisted design software, and even virtual interview practice bots are making it more feasible for people with physical disabilities to pursue careers that were once out of reach due to location, travel, or physical access constraints.
AI can support job candidates with:
- Cover letter generation tailored to job roles
- Portfolio curation using past work
- Interview coaching through real-time feedback
And for disabled entrepreneurs like myself, AI has become a silent business partner — helping with social media, accounting, customer service chatbots, and pitch decks.
This isn’t about replacing people. It’s about removing barriers that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
A Word of Caution: Personalisation vs Paternalism
But while I’m optimistic, I’m also cautious.
There’s a fine line between empowering disabled people and automating their autonomy away. AI systems must be designed with, not just for, disabled users. That means we need diverse voices — not just engineers and product managers, but people with lived experience of disability — at the table from day one.
It’s not enough for an app to “help you.” It needs to let you be in control. That means:
- Clear settings and customisation
- Transparent use of data
- No assumptions about what a user can or can’t do
AI that assumes too much risks becoming patronising. AI that listens, learns, and adapts to real-world lived experience? That’s powerful.
The Future Is Accessible — If We Build It That Way
In my experience, the most valuable technology is the kind you don’t have to think about. It just works. It supports you without getting in the way. It empowers you without defining you.
AI can do that for disabled people. It’s already starting to.
But the future we need is not one of “AI carers” or robotic replacements. It’s a future where intelligent systems quietly unlock access, support independence, and remove invisible friction from our lives.
And in my opinion, that’s not just a disability issue — it’s a human issue.
Let’s build a world where AI doesn’t assume what we need, but instead helps us do what we want — better, faster, and on our terms.