The purpose of this study is to discuss how technology can bias an individual’s view of disability. Specifically, the authors sought to determine how Google’s autocomplete function within its search engine might influence people’s views of disability based on the suggestions it makes. As such, the objectives of the study were to a) record the suggestions made by Google’s autocomplete function for specific terms related to children with disabilities, b) categorize these suggestions as providing an affirming, negative, or neutral view of disability, and c) discuss the significance of Google’s autocomplete for users of its search engine. As the internet becomes increasingly available to individuals around the world, it’s important to consider how it can affect cultural concepts based on the information it provides and how such information is provided. Although the internet can provide access to an assortment of information in very positive ways, it can also provide access to a wide variety of misinformation as well. In this regard, the internet can influence the way a culture thinks about such abstract concepts as democracy, justice, and equality. Internet search engines have become an important portal through which many users access information on the internet. Over the last decade, autocomplete functions have become a ubiquitous part of most major search engines because they can increase the efficiency at which a user can access targeted information on a topic. For example, Google’s autocomplete function quickly displays suggestions before the person finishes typing the keywords. According to Google, the autocomplete function is designed to help the user in many ways. Suggestions provided by autocomplete may prevent lengthy typing, replace misspelled search terms, display a repeated favorite search, and find other relevant information. While it is designed to make internet searches more efficient, Google’s autocomplete function sometimes offers suggestions that can bias the way a user thinks about certain concepts based on the suggestions it makes. Disability is an abstract cultural concept that can be understood in multiple ways. Disability can be viewed as positive, negative, or as simply a human condition that is not neither overtly positive or negative. Within any given culture, how those in power feel about disability can influence how those with disabilities are treated. At best this may mean that people with disabilities are valued citizens and appropriately accommodated so that they are active participants within their communities. However, across many cultures there is a legacy of people defined as ‘disabled’ being discriminated against based on negative views about disability arising from stereotypes, prejudice, and misinformation regarding disabling conditions. Often this has resulted in people with disabilities being marginalized, locked away, or put to death. In short, the way people with disabilities are treated is often influenced by the cultural conception of disability within that society. Google’s autocomplete function can serve to influence the way users think about disability based on the suggestions it makes to disability-related search terms. Such suggestions can communicate a decidedly affirming, negative, or neutral bias about disability, influencing the way in which a society thinks about disability. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Blumer’s symbolic interactionism (1969) which posits that the truth or meaning one ascribes to a particular phenomenon (i.e., object, condition, etc.) is not so much a quality intrinsic to the phenomenon but rather the interpretation of that phenomenon by individuals. From this lens, Google’s autocomplete function can influence the way in which individuals interpret the concept of disability which can ultimately influence the way they react to disability within a societal context.

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.