Disability, Digital Technologies, and Energy Transition:

Dimensions of Accessibility for Energy Citizenship

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical contribution aimed at analyzing the intersection of disability,  digital technologies, and energy transition within the frameworks of cognitive materialism and the socio-technical approach. It argues that the current digitalization of energy infrastructures, far from constituting a neutral process, establishes new material arrangements that may deepen the exclusion of persons with disabilities if the principles of universal design and accessibility are overlooked. Through a critical discussion that revisits the still underdeveloped dialogue between Disability Studies and the field of Science, Technology, and Society (STS), the article identifies key issues such as information gaps, the inaccessibility of digital service platforms, and the rigidity  of smart meter interfaces. The study concludes that the energy transition must move beyond a  paradigm of “passive protection” toward one of digital energy citizenship. Within this framework,  accessibility becomes the condition of possibility for the exercise of rights, requiring the active  participation of persons with disabilities in the co- construction of technologies for social inclusion.