🤖 My Words, My Voice, My AI: Creativity, Disability and Independence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Following John Clarke’s thought-provoking reflections on independence and autonomy, we are delighted to share the second of his personal blogs.
In this piece, John explores the relationship between disability, creativity and artificial intelligence, and asks what happens when technology can help people express ideas that might otherwise be difficult to communicate.
For someone living with Cerebral Palsy, having the right tools and support can open up new possibilities — but independence is not simply about the technology itself. It is about having your own ideas, your own choices and, ultimately, your own voice.
This week, John has written: My Words, My Voice, My AI: Creativity, Disability and Independence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
We hope you enjoy John’s fascinating and personal perspective on how AI can support creativity and independence, while raising important questions about authorship, authenticity and what it really means to have a voice.
We would once again like to thank John for allowing us to share his words and for allowing our readers to see these issues from his unique perspective.
My Words, My Voice, My AI
Creativity, disability and independence in the age of artificial intelligence
Technology has changed my life for as long as I can remember. It has enabled me to connect and interact with the world on a more ordinary level, helping to level the playing field, at least a little, when it comes to living with a disability.
Whether it was using early voice recognition software or, more frustratingly, trying to get it to understand me back in the early 2000s, technology has always given me a way to express myself.
I have always enjoyed writing. Just a few years ago, a blog like this could easily have taken me three days to complete. As technology has advanced, that time has reduced significantly.
But that raises an interesting question. If I’m using AI to help me produce this blog, are they still my words?
Some people might argue that I’m using AI to do the work for me. I see it differently. I’ve always had the ability to express my own ideas and shape them into something meaningful. AI simply helps me speed up the process, reduce the fatigue that comes with it and spend more time enjoying the creative process.
That, in turn, leads to an even bigger question: what does it actually mean to be human? If a machine can imitate aspects of humanity, what is it that truly makes us human? Where does our value really lie?
Yes, a large language model can write the perfect sonnet. Yes, it can answer a complex question in seconds. Yes, it can help me produce this article in a fraction of the time it once took.
But does it know what it means to be loved? Does it understand grief, joy or hope? Does using AI take away some of the beauty of the creative process, or is it simply another tool, much like the technologies that came before it? Does it diminish the act of creation, or merely change the way we create?
These are the questions I want to explore.
Take someone like William Shakespeare. He wrote some of the greatest sonnets ever composed, yet if I asked you to explain what it truly feels like to fall in love or to have a deep connection with another person, none of us could fully explain it.
Where do our best ideas come from? Where does that creative spark begin? It feels real, yet none of us can point to where it originates.
The ancient Greeks had an interesting way of thinking about this. They spoke of the Muses, giving inspiration a divine source because they couldn’t fully explain the creative process. Even today, we still struggle to describe exactly where our best ideas come from.
If I asked you to explain your own creative process, where would you begin? Most people couldn’t give a complete answer. We can describe it, but we can’t fully account for it.
That’s why I don’t see AI as a replacement for human creativity. Even this article has been through countless revisions. I’ve changed words, broadened the vocabulary, reworked the syntax and reshaped the flow. The ideas are still mine; technology has simply helped me express them more efficiently.
Part of the problem comes when we start to anthropomorphise AI. We give it human qualities and, in some cases, rely on it without treating it as what it really is: a tool.
When I was at high school, we had lessons that encouraged critical thinking. We were taught to question ideas, examine our own assumptions and avoid accepting everything at face value or simply regurgitating someone else’s opinion.
I could have asked AI to generate an article about the advantages and disadvantages of artificial intelligence. It would almost certainly have produced a polished piece in seconds. But that isn’t what I wanted to do.
I wanted to write my own thoughts. I wanted to communicate directly with you, the reader. AI has helped me organise my ideas, challenge my wording and refine my writing, but it hasn’t replaced my thinking. That distinction matters.
So, is AI an enemy or a friend? I don’t think the answer is that simple.
To me, AI is a tool, but it is also one that has the potential to fundamentally reshape the world around us. Some have described it as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and I can understand why. It is already beginning to influence our economies, governments, public services and approaches to security. The real question, however, is not simply what AI can do, but who controls it, who has access to it and who ultimately benefits from it.
Losing access to AI would mean becoming more reliant on other people again. I would need someone to help me write emails and manage other forms of written communication online.
That would not only make me more dependent, but it would also mean giving up a degree of confidentiality. For much of my life, communicating clearly in writing has often meant involving another person. AI has allowed me to manage personal correspondence without automatically having to share it with somebody else, a freedom many non-disabled people have always been able to take for granted.
The level of control it has given me over my own life has been mind-blowing. That is why my feelings towards AI are genuinely conflicted. I can see the risks, and I understand why people are concerned about where this technology may lead. But I also know, from my own experience, how profoundly it can improve someone’s life.
