I am a Person

Abstract

This paper presents a conception of personhood as both physical and social, and both as radically contingent upon their respective physical and social environments. In the context of age-related cognitive decline, particularly dementia, it supports literature suggesting social personhood is occluded rather than deteriorating with brain function. Value sensitive design (VSD) applied to assistive technologies for people with age-related cognitive decline, has focused upon physical support. The paper concludes that issues of power must be grasped by those in VSD practice in order to reorient VSD in assistive technologies to also support social personhood.