Technology, Health, Impairment and Disability: An historical overview
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Dialogue
Technology, Health, Impairment and Disability: An historical overview
PIA ROCKHOLD
ABSTRACT Pia Rockhold reflects on the concepts of health, impairment and disability in the context of the technological evolution and development over time and space. New technology is often seen as the solution to our problems, but what have these technologies done for us over time? She argues that equity and equality must be the foundation for global peace and sustainable development. KEYWORDS vaccines; WHO; mental health; development; equity and equality
A glimpse of the early technological evolution Through time technology has impacted our environment, society and daily life, for better and for worse. Initial technologies were simple tools made of natural resources. Turning points in the technological evolution include: the use of fire around 500,000 BC;1 the discovery of the wheel around 4,000 BC; Egyptian papyrus around 3,000 BC; the invention of paper in AD 105; movable print in AD 1,045, and mass printing in AD 1,440. The industrial revolution in the late 18th century, brought about major technological, socio-economic and cultural changes, as an economy originally dominated by manual labour was replaced by industry. The introduction of steam power and machinery enabled a dramatic increase in production and trade. The first railroad was built in the 1700s, the first steam ship the 1900s, the first car in 1885 and the first plane in 1903. Today, a comprehensive infrastructure of technical knowledge-based tools, processes and practices supports modern technology, and ensures the continuous development of increasingly more complex tools. The amount of knowledge and skills necessary to interact and operate in modern day society has increased dramatically. Vast quantities of information and knowledge are included in both formal and informal education. We live in an information age surrounded by technology, but also a‘world of dreadful poverty and appalling deprivation’. Aworld of ‘massive inequalities in the opportunities different people have’due to failures of the social, political and economic arrangements. We live in a world in need of a more effective global morality and a more inclusive sense of belonging. (Sen, 2006). Development (2006) 49(4), 107–113. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100312
Development 49(4): Dialogue The concepts of health, impairment and disability Health is ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (http://www.who.int/about/ en/index.html). Health is a basic right, central to human security (http://www.humansecurity-chs. org/finalreport) quality of life and economic growth. Co-requisites for health include social and environmental factors such as human rights, peace, shelter, food, water, energy, education and a job. The conceptualization of health requires a holistic understanding of the determinants and the consequences of health conditions in term of impairment and disabilities.2 According to the International classifi
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