Exploring the overlap between wearable computing and disability discrimination law

Typically, Wearable Computing has raised a wide range of negative legal concerns, ranging from complaints about its potential misuse by car drivers, onto concerns around privacy, confidentiality, and copyright. The result has been that Wearable Computing systems ' most notably Google Glass ' have been banned from being used in a wide range of public spaces. This presentation will explore the overlap between Wearable Computing and Disability Discrimination Law. Through the mechanism of proportionality, Disability Discrimination Law presents a positive case for permitting and actually supporting wearable computing in wider society, creating the scenario where someone with a disability would be entitled to use such technology (regardless of opposition). The Mental Capacity aspects of Disability Discrimination Law also raise novel legal questions around the limits upon who might be able to use Wearable Assistive Technologies, and some significant wider implications for wearable computing more generally.