Agency

The capacity to act, make choices, and exert control over one's own life and environment. In disability studies, agency is distinguished from independence — a person can have agency (the ability to make decisions and direct actions) while still relying on others for support, emphasizing interdependence rather than full self-sufficiency. In technology design, agency refers to a user's ability to feel in control of a system and its outcomes. For people with disabilities, agency is a critical design consideration because assistive technologies and automated systems can either enhance agency (by enabling new capabilities and choices) or diminish it (by making decisions without user input or consent). Bandura's framework of agency includes intentionality, forethought, self-reactiveness, and self-reflectiveness — all relevant to designing systems where control is shared between humans and machines.