Article Summary by Raymond Holt

This paper explores some of the challenges faced by one of the authors (Russ, who is deafblind) and imagines how future haptic technology could enhance experiences for people with deafblindness. We consider three of Russ’ experiences related to his interest in space: a visit to the Kennedy Space Centre to experience the immense rockets and cramped crew capsules; two observatories to view constellations and the moons of Jupiter with his residual vision; and watching a livestream of the launch of NASA’s Mars2020 mission.

We highlight the importance of emotional experiences, the need to adapt to Russ’ existing knowledge and the need for skilled assistance to make these experiences accessible. We then imagine how future technologies might enable access to emotional experience and adapt to existing knowledge when skilled assistance is not available. However, we also note the importance of social contact and the risk that replacing human assistance with technology could increase social isolation. We conclude that there is potential for haptic technologies to improve access and enrich experience for people such as Russ, but it is important that new technologies expand the range of options available, rather than just replacing those available now.