Neuro-advancements are leading to more and more products that can be used by medical professionals. At the same time many of these products are also used outside of the medical arena such as the workplace [1] (see for example the emergence of the field of neuroergonomics [2, 3]) and are also used in neurohacking (Do it yourself DIY neuro) [4]. Many ethical and social issues are discussed as potential consequences of neuro-advancements in the neuro-academic literature [5,6,7,8,9] including neurohacking [10,11,12] and neuroethics is discussed in conjunction with other fields such as AI-ethics [13,14,15,16]. Public/stakeholder engagement is an important aspect of science and technology research and development, including neuroethics and neurogovernance discussions, where the goal is to increase knowledge on the issues neuro-advancements pose [9, 17,18,19,20,21]. This is ever more important the more neuroproducts become available to the general public.

Students are one important stakeholder group, as they are envisioned to be critical thinkers, change agents [22,23,24,25,26,27,28] and active citizens [29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39]. Many educational efforts positioned at the intersection between science and/or technology and society [40] aim to instill into students an appreciation for the societal impact of scientific and technological change [41] and for students to be socio-scientifically literate [42,43,44,45].

Disabled people often serve as targets for the development of neuro-advancements but many problems with neuro-advancements have been flagged over the years [46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58]. Neurohacking is also discussed in relation to disabled people [4, 59]. Critical disability studies focuses on the lived reality of disabled people [60, 61] and is based in social justice for disabled people [62] and disability justice [63,64,65,66,67]. Terms such as neurotypicality, neurodiversity, and neurodivergence are dominantly used in critical disability studies; for example, the medical view linked to autism is questioned in critical disability studies [68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]. Critical disability studies students engage with the social problems disabled people face in order to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people [76]. Disability studies students see themselves as allies of disabled people [63] and raise awareness about the problematic lived reality of disabled people [77]. But in order to be an ally and to raise awareness, one needs to be literate on the lived reality of disabled people [78]. That literacy must include the understanding of the impact of science and technology advancements, including neuro-advancements, on the lived reality of disabled people. However, searching the academic databases Scopus, Web of Science, and the 70 databases of EBSCO-HOST, we found only one [59] article that covered views of “disability studies students” on some aspects of neuro-advancements.

Art and artists have a long history of providing social commentaries using art as a medium [79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86], including in relation to science and technology in general and neuro-advancements specifically [87,88,89,90,91,92,93]. Art, such as films, can influence people’s knowledge and views of a given subject and trigger engagement with a given topic [94,95,96,97,98,99]. Art is used to educate on science and technology in many settings, such as higher education [100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113] and museums [114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123], and is used in professional development and lifelong learning initiatives [124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132,133,134]. An example of this is the 2019 BIO·FICTION Science Art Film festival, which examined the societal impacts of neurotechnology within the context of the project “FUTUREBODY: The Future of the Body in the Light of Neurotechnology” [92] that dealt with the future of the human body against th backdrop of neurotechnological progress . Given the underappreciation of the views of disability studies students on neuro-advancements and the potential important role disability studies students can play in these discussions, the purpose of our study was to engage 89 disability studies students in a critical reflection on the potential consequences of neuro-advancements. We aimed to investigate whether the six top films of the 2019 BIO·FICTION film festival [135] triggered students to think about social aspects of neuro-advancement. This critical reflection was submitted online as a marked assignment, with no live component. For each film, students were asked four questions. (1) “What are your thoughts on the given film in general?” The first question was asked to get a general sense of the views the film triggered in the students. The second question was (2) “Do you think the given film has an impact on people watching it? If yes, what impact? If not, why not?” We asked the second question because how we deal with neuro-advancements depends in part on how people see the topic. How people view or interpret the six films also impacts how they engage with the social aspects of neuro-advancements. Finally, the lived social reality of disabled people is often impacted by how others perceive disabled people, and what they see as take-home messages of the films. How spectators react to the films might also impact how they see the influence of neuroenhancements on the lived reality of disabled people. Disability studies students enter many different occupations affected by how neuro-advancements impact the social reality of disabled people, such as being academics, health professionals, policy makers, or working in community service and disability advocacy organizations. Therefore, we asked (3) “What are your thoughts about the given film thinking about your profession you want to go into?” Disabled people are one group impacted by neuro-advancements; disability studies students frequently engage with the lived reality of disabled peoples and aim to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people [76]. Therefore, we asked (4) “What are your thoughts about the given film’s impact on disabled people”.

We propose that our study is of interest to disability studies scholars but also various education fields such as intersectionality pedagogy, citizenship education, arts education, and various science and society education areas. The data might also be of interest to anyone involved at the intersection of disability and science and technology governance.

Neurotechnology/neuro-advancements are often discussed as benefiting disabled people by providing them with specific advantages. However, at the same time, many problems related to neuro-advancements are noted for disabled people, including how disabled people are portrayed and engaged with in neuro-related discussions [46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58] including the aspect of intersectionality [59, 136, 137] and hacking [59]. “Neurotechnologies under development are often explicitly justified in terms of the advantages they will provide to disabled people”, and therefore “it would seem important to know what disabled people want from current and future iterations of these technologies and how they experience the functional barriers the technologies are meant to address” ([57], p. 615). Art performed by disabled artists or disability arts [88] could be used to engage disabled people and others with the topic of neuro-advancements and to make visible the impact of neuro-advancements on disabled people. It could also be used to raise awareness about the impacts of neuro- and other scientific and technological advancements on disabled people.

Disability studies courses are based on furthering social justice for disabled people [62], questioning the narrative around the normative body [138]. Critical disability studies ought to disrupt traditional research boundaries [69] and enhance the lived reality of disabled people in all their facets [139]. Concepts used in critical disability studies include “critical access”, “disability justice”, crip time and crip knower-makers [68]. Critical disability studies is often covered in relation to autism, with the terms neurotypicality and neurodiversity questioning the medical view linked to autism [68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]. It also often covers the intersectionality of autistic/neurodivergent people with other marginalized identities [74, 140]. Disability studies is also linked to critical autism studies [70] and critical pedagogy [71, 141], with critical disability studies providing tools for anti-ableist pedagogy, which is expected “to promote the inclusion and belonging of disabled students, and to challenge the exclusion of disabled students” ([141], p. 1).

Disability studies is teamed up with critical pedagogy for health professional education [142]. One study suggests that neurorehabilitative research should be informed by insights from critical disability studies, proposing that principles of crip technoscience and critical disability studies perspectives should be included in neurorehabilitation education [143]. Reflecting on the use of playwriting assignments in a critical disability studies classroom, one study concluded that “the use of art-based approaches in teaching critical disability studies can provide students with the opportunity and space to take creative risks and advance their critical thinking skills in ways that go beyond the traditional assignment” ([144], p. 137). In another study, it is concluded that “after exposure to critical disability studies, students were more willing to discuss other social justice issues relating to race, sexuality, religion, and class” ([145], p. 1).

Disability studies students often go into allied health professions, but it is noted that their view of how these fields ought to engage with disabled people is influenced by their background in disability studies. For example, a critical disability studies lens demands that occupational therapy engages with disabled people different than what often is put forward [146,147,148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155]; for disability studies meeting other health professions such as social work and speech language pathology see [156,157,158,159,160,161]. The premises of disability studies and the positionality and goals of disability studies students suggest that students should be exposed to and become socio-literate about scientific and technological advancements, including neuro-advancements, as these advancements impact the lived reality of disabled people.

Art and artists play a significant role in society [79, 80], such as being educators [162]. An essential aspect of this role is that they use art to communicate the unresolved issues of society, in turn raising awareness [81]. Art and artists play a vital position in maintaining social responsibility [82], creating social justice [83], activism [84, 163], advocacy [85], critiquing and exposing stereotypes embedded in society [86], promoting citizenship [98], and a culture of rights [98]. Art projects may also have emotional and ideological impacts [164,165,166,167,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,176,177]. Some artists create art to depict the dynamics of society, narrating future events and movements based on reflections of the past and present society to [178]. Many artists feel a sense of obligation when it comes to their art to uphold a social responsibility [82]. This intrinsic ethical responsibility of art is a form of expression for an artist to demonstrate the issues seen (or not seen) in the world today [82]. Art can also be used as a means for expressing knowledge [179] and as a tool to help one gain awareness of social issues [180]. There is a significant need to raise political awareness and foster social responsibility that artists should express through the use of the art they create [88, 163]. For example, as “disabled people are the experts of their current social situation, disabled artists can also bring specific knowledge linked to their lived experience” into art, thus allowing them to use art to communicate specific issues relevant to them ([88], p. 104). For many disabled artists, their art is a form of self-advocacy that enables them to voice their opinions to impact change [181]. However, the literature suggests that many problems exist for disabled artists, as they struggle to serve as change agents and impact society [88, 182].

Films, including short films, are one form of art that can impact people’s knowledge and views of a given topic, including human rights; films may transform society, serve as pedagogical tools, generate critical thinking, and create a climate for discussions [94,95,96,97,98,99]. Film festivals play a major role in the impact of films [183,184,185,186,187]. Activist film festivals, which focus on social change, are said to potentially reinvent viewers as responsible citizens [188]. For example, the Women’s Film Festival in Taiwan was noted to have positively contributed to the Taiwanese women’s rights movement [189] or disability film festivals, which may help create new understandings of disability [190,191,192,193,194]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been noted that many film festivals have shifted online, in turn experiencing unprecedented high attendance levels and increased reach and accessibility as attendees did not have to travel to specific locations [195].

Art has a long history in relation to science and technology [87, 88], including neuroscience, known as neuroart [89,90,91,92,93]. It has been noted that art is often used to express scientific thought [87]. Films, in particular those targeted at a mass audience, are themselves a source of information about how science and technology are seen by the filmmakers and presumably by the audience [196, 197]. Art about emerging technologies and their societal ramifications may also help to reveal what is important to the public.

Surrounding the role of arts concerning science and technology, it is noted that:

• “Art is a unique and powerful communicator that engages people in a different way than graphs and data do. This can change participants’ perception of a scientific concept.
• Art engages people emotionally and can create strong feelings towards science, which can increase engagement and retention.
• Art is intrinsically cultural and can strongly influence bonding around environmental issues, connecting people to each other and to the issue.
• Art is an effective marketing tool for science organizations because it increases positive perceptions and engages new audiences” ([121], p. 3).

Many academic educational efforts are positioned at the intersection of science and/or technology and society [42, 198,199,200,201,202,203,204,205,206,207,208,209,210,211,212,213,214,215,216,217,218,219,220,221], and art has been incorporated into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, resulting in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) [100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113]. Films are seen as useful tools in teaching STEM, including STEM and society issues [222,223,224,225], and the social aspects of science [226]. Social justice is one focus of arts education [227], with there being a linkage between art education, the ‘social’, and science and technology [228]. Artists are involved in science and technology education and governance discussions in many places [229,230,231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,253,254,255,256], such as museums engaged with science and technology where they may serve as educators surrounding the intersection of science and society [88, 114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123, 257]. The 2019 BIO·FICTION Science Art Film Festival invited filmmakers from all backgrounds to submit their work to cover a broad and diverse take on how neurotechnology may impact society and our lives. Submissions to the festival were predominantly short films that raised questions about how such technologies could be used to create either a flourishing or a dystopian society [258]. “What the Austrian writer Robert Musil (1880–1942) has described as a sense of reality and a sense of possibility can be encountered in the contemporary debate about” neurotechnology and BIO·FICTION can be seen as a tool for such a debate [258]. We do, however, want to point out that a utilitarian view on the role of art, e.g. as a communicator or marketing tool, can be problematic. The relationship between art and science is not one where the arts is meant to serve science (or the other way round) but to interact on the same level without one being the instrument of the other [259].

Occupations are “everyday activities that people do as individuals, in families, and with communities to occupy time and bring meaning and purpose to life. Occupations include things people need to, want to and are expected to do” [260]. Many different occupational activities can be seen to be impacted by neuro-advancements. Disability studies students engage in many occupation-related activities that intersect with disabled people, such as being allies to disabled people in their private lives and in their future employment [63], raising awareness about the problematic lived reality of disabled people [77], being educators, being policymakers, working in disability service organizations, disability advocacy organizations and in allied health professions. As disabled people are a main target of and potentially impacted in many ways by neuro-advancements [46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59], and given the goal of disability studies students to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people, disability studies students have to be socio-scientifically literate on neuro-advancements in all these occupational activities.

To give the example of the allied health profession; there are many roles expected from health professionals that demand an engagement with the impact of neuro-advancements. For example, speech-language pathologists are expected to serve not only as clinical service providers but also to act as advocates for their field and their clients, and to take on roles as educators and researchers [261]. Nurses are expected to provide clinical care, apply evidence-informed literature, participate in research, advocate for their clients and their field, be team players, and be involved in political processes [262,263,264,265,266]. Social workers’ roles include serving as advocates on an individual and systemic level, being researchers, educating students and community groups, and continuously learning [267]. The roles of occupational therapists include being an expert in enabling occupation and acting as communicators, collaborators, practice managers, change agents, and scholarly practitioners/professionals [268]. These various professionals, as well as other health professionals, should also fulfil these roles in relation to neurotechnologies [261,262,263,264, 267,268,269,270,271,272,273]. However, an article by Bell, Legar, Sankar, and Racine indicated gaps within the current training and knowledge of health professionals, including nurses, in relation to neuro-advancements, stating:

“Trainees from diverse healthcare professions (e.g., nursing, social work, physiotherapy) are not well prepared to handle many of the ethical issues associated with psychiatric DBS [deep brain stimulation] because, among other reasons, they may be unprepared to engage in ethical reflection, they have a limited understanding of issues associated with scientific uncertainty, and they may lack an interdisciplinary understanding about ethical issues” ([274], p. 6).

Lifelong learning [275,276,277,278,279] is an important aspect for health professionals such as nurses [263, 264, 280, 281], social workers [282,283,284], speech language pathologists [261, 285, 286] and occupational therapists [287, 288]. Lifelong learning is also seen as important for being active citizens [275, 289,290,291,292,293,294] and policymakers [295]. It is argued that health professionals should fulfill their role as advocates and being active citizens by using lifelong learning mechanisms [269]. Lifelong learning is also expected from authentic allies of disabled people [78], as one cannot be an ally when one lacks needed knowledge.

Art, such as films, could be one tool to be incorporated into degrees and lifelong learning endeavors for members of many occupations to learn about and engage with scientific and technological advancement, including neuroscientific and neurotechnological advancements. This tool may aid members of many different occupations to have increased knowledge and understanding about and to reflect on the impacts of neuro-advancements, such as the social and ethical issues stemming from these developments. This tool also might be useful for students that want to go into policy work as neuro-advancements pose questions for policymakers [296, 297] and also for community service organizations given the many potential impacts of different neuro-advancements on the lived reality of disabled people and the public at large.

Material

The BIO·FICTION short film festival invites filmmakers from all backgrounds to submit their work covering a broad and diverse take on the impact of science and technology [298]. The 2019 BIO-FICTION festival had as theme the future of the human body and focused on neurotechnologies and how they shape the future of the human body, mind, intelligence, and society [92]. The objective of this study was to examine the perceptions and views of undergraduate students on films from the 2019 BIO-FICTION festival. To achieve the objective of this study, we made use of the six top films [135] of the 2019 BIO·FICTION film festival that took place on September 23rd and 24th of 2019. “We were given private links to each of the six films on the Vimeo platform to give to our students. The descriptions of the films are on the festival webpage but most of the films are not publicly available (unless individual film makers publish them via other channels).”

The films were:

Documentary Winner: Paramusical Ensemble (by Tim Grabham / 09:20 / UK 2015).

The documentary follows the Paramusical Ensemble, which consists of four severely motor-impaired patients and a string quartet, preparing and performing a live musical piece with the help of a Brain-Computer Music Interfacing system [299].

Fiction Winner: The Auxiliary (by Frédéric Plasman / 08:42 / Belgium 2018).

Alone in front of her reflection in a collapsing world, someone desperate, feeling unfairly discredited, is going to end it all. But who is she and why is she doing this? [300]

Jury Special Prize Winner: Reboot (by Andrei Thutat Ungur / 14:58 / Romania 2019).

Reboot tells the story of a lonesome man suffering from depression and obsessive regrets about the past. He chooses to erase his memory in order to restart his life and get a second chance at living a “normal” life [301].

Documentary Runner-Up: Carlotta’s Face (by Valentin Riedl & Frédéric Schuld / 05:00 / Germany 2018).

Carlotta is face blind and never recognized a single face – not even her own. Through art, she discovers a creative way to map her face [302].

Fiction Runner-Up: Perfectly Natural (by Victor Alonso-Berbel / 13:44 / Japan 2014).

For Wanda and Zach, Future Families is a lifetime opportunity: a virtual parenting system that gives their baby access to a better life. But they soon realize this technology may come at a higher cost [303].

Jury Special Prize Runner-Up: Adam & Eve Mk II (by Sebastian Kuder / 04:13 / UK 2019).

In a post-apocalyptic future, human memories from the now-extinct species Homo sapiens are loaded into the artificial brain of a robot [304].

Participants for this study were from three senior-level undergraduate classes in one critical disability studies program, which took place between September 2020 and April 2021. Watching the film and answering the questions were one marked assignment in the class. As such, the design of the questions and the deliverable was tailored for the purpose of the courses, and that the courses were taught asynchronously with no live interaction between students and the instructor. It was decided to give these classes asynchronously to give students more flexibility in their daily lives during the COVID pandemic. A link to the films and the questions were provided through the online course platform. In accordance with the ethics approval stipulations, students saw this as a normal course assignment during the time they had to do the assignment. After the final marks were given by the instructor and approved for a given course, the students were asked by email whether they would agree that the data be used without attributing the data to any person for a potential publication. The course assignment content of any student that did not agree was removed by the instructor before the analysis.

We decided to focus on students because students are seen to have many roles that suggest the need for students to know about, be able to evaluate, and be able to contribute to public discussions [305,306,307] of scientific and technological advancements. Students are described as “revolutionary and transformative figure[s]” ([308], p. 261), serving as change agents [26, 309,310,311], including in relation to technologies [312]. Students are seen as change agents in the community [313], alongside community stakeholders [24], and in higher education [25, 314, 315]. Active citizenship education in higher education is about enabling students to be change agents [29, 316,317,318,319], and the role of being active citizens suggests that students can also involve themselves in science and technology governance discussions [317]. Being a change agent is also linked to the expectation that students have a social responsibility [320]. A “bottom up empowerment of ‘students as change agents’” ([321], p. 105) is seen as necessary, as is to train students as change agents [322]. Gaining awareness of a topic, making sense of a given topic and reality, and developing one’s own view on a topic is essential for being a change agent [323, 324]. Social responsibility in students is linked to academic achievement [325], higher self-esteem [325], and transnational citizenship [326]. Sensemaking, “the process by which new meaning is created to rationalise the actions of individuals in relation to change” ([327], p. 1047), influences the activity of change agents by helping identify what should be changed but also influencing the very understanding of the role of change agent [327].

We decided to focus in particular on critical disability studies students because disabled people are a main target of and are potentially impacted in many ways by neuro-advancements [46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59].

As critical disability studies students 1) engage with the social problems disabled people face in order to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people [76], 2) see themselves as allies of disabled people [63], 3) want to raise awareness about the problematic lived reality of disabled people [77], and 4) very likely encounter neuro-advancements in many of their occupational activities linked to disabled people, it is evidently important for the students to understand the views of critical disability studies on neuro-advancements,to find ways to increase their socio-scientific literacy on neuro-advancements, and for them to in neuro-governance discussions. We used the six short films to achieve these goals. Given that participants were critical disability studies students, we used as an analytical lens the premise of the field of critical disability studies and the motivation students have to join a critical disability studies degree or course.

The study received ethics approval from the institutional review board. After the ethics approval, the students were sent a link to the top six films and asked to answer the following four questions for each film:

1. (1)What are your thoughts on the given film in general?
2. (2)Do you think the given film has an impact on people watching it? If yes, what impact? If not, why not?
3. (3)What are your thoughts about the given film, thinking about your profession you want to go into?
4. (4)What are your thoughts about the given film’s impact on disabled people?

Questions 1 and 2 allowed us to obtain an insight into the general thoughts students had in relation to the films. Question 1 allows us to obtain a general sense of the usefulness of any of the six films for our objective to understand the views of our participants on neuro-advancement, to increase participants socio-scientific literacy on neuro-advancements, and to engage them in neuro-governance discussions.

We asked the second question because the lived social reality of disabled people is often impacted by how others perceive disabled people, which in turn impacts the role of students as change agents but also the reality they might encounter in their future engagement with disabled people. The films might directly impact the perceptions viewers of the films have of disabled people. Indirectly, the lived reality of disabled people might be impacted by the perception and views people develop after they watched the films.

Question 3 was asked because neuro-advancements might influence many of the occupational activities participants might engage in in relation to disabled people at the present time and after graduation. Furthermore, what our participants do now and in the future in relation to neuro-advancement could have an impact on disabled people.

Question 4 was asked because disability studies students want to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people and see themselves as allies of disabled people. As such, it is important to understand the views of students on the consequences of neuro-advancement for disabled people because that view will influence how they engage with neuro-advancements in their self-understanding of wanting to make a difference in the lives of disabled people.

Student responses (one PDF per class) were downloaded with names removed from the answers. The three PDFs were uploaded into ATLAS.ti 9™, a qualitative data analysis software. We performed a directed thematic analysis [328, 329] following the six-phase thematic analysis process outlined by Braun and Clarke [329]. Differences in codes and theme suggestions of the qualitative data were few and discussed between three of the authors and revised as needed to ensure credibility and dependability. Confirmability is also evident in the audit trail made possible by using the Memo and coding functions within ATLAS.Ti 9™.

This section has two parts to give an overview of the data we found. The first part compared the views students had about all films on some key themes linked to the four questions (Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4). In the second part, the top three themes evident in the student responses to each film are presented (Tables 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16). All numbers are numbers of respondents. A detailed list of all themes, along with the number of students who expressed a given theme, is provided in the appendix (Tables 17-40).

Part 1: Comparing The Views Of Students On All Films In Relation To Key Themes Linked To The Four Questions

Question 1 Sample Responses: Full Set of Themes and Subthemes the Appendix, T ables 17-40

For question 1 concerning students’ thoughts on the given film in general, students most often mentioned aspects of the film they liked/disliked/did not understand, their opinions towards the film’s neurotechnology and its consequences, and that the film helped them consider certain concepts or demonstrated certain concepts.

Students most often stated they liked the film or aspects of the film Paramusical Ensemble (65), followed by Carlotta’s Face (38), Perfectly Natural (11), Adam & Eve MkII (10), Reboot (10), and The Auxiliary (4). In contrast, 18 students disliked the film or aspects of the film Reboot, followed by Adam & Eve MkII (13), Perfectly Natural (4), Paramusical Ensemble (2), and The Auxiliary (2). Surrounding understanding, 19 students stated they did not understand the film Adam & Eve MkII, followed by Reboot (16), Carlotta’s Face (10), The Auxiliary (7), and Perfectly Natural (4).

Regarding students’ opinions of the technology shown in the film, students most often perceived the technology in the film Perfectly Natural as negative (19), followed by Adam & Eve MkII (3), and The Auxiliary (2).

In Perfectly Natural and Reboot, the films’ neurotechnologies were not seen as negative but as risky by 4 and 3 students, respectively. Paramusical Ensemble most often led to students stating the technology in the film was positive (16), followed by Perfectly Natural (7). Concerning students discussing the consequences of said technology, Perfectly Natural led to students discussing the consequences of the film’s neurotechnology the most (44), followed by Adam & Eve MkII (17), Reboot (10), and The Auxiliary (10).

Question 2 Sample Responses: Full Set of Themes and Subthemes in the Appendix, Tables 17-40

For question 2, where students first stated whether the film had an impact on people watching it and then elaborated on their answer, students most often did not specify the exact impact the film had if they said the film had an impact.

Question 3 Sample Responses: Full Set of Themes and Subthemes in the Appendix, Tables 17-40

For question 3, students were asked to describe their thoughts about the given film regarding the profession they want to go into or are currently in and how this film may impact said profession. Most students did not identify the profession they wished to enter; of those who listed their hopeful future profession, the main profession mentioned was occupational therapy. Independent of profession, students most often noted how the film made them feel a professional responsibility towards a specific task or action, how the technology depicted in the films could impact their future work, and their opinions towards the films neurotechnology.

Question 4 Sample Responses: Full Set of Themes and Subthemes in the Appendix, Tables 17-40

For question 4, surrounding each film’s impact on disabled people, students most often did not specify how the film or film content impacted disabled people. The only film that students stated had no impact on disabled people was Adam & Eve MkII (3).

Part 2: Top Three Themes Evident in the Student Responses to Each Film

Tables 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 indicate that some top themes for each question showed up in more than one film; for example, the top theme for question 3 “Film made students feel a professional responsibility to a certain task/action” was present in all films. The top theme “Helps people consider/demonstrates certain concepts” was present in many films and a theme under more than one question with different subconnotations of different concepts, such as technology and ability. Not understanding aspects of the film was a top theme under question 1 for Adam & Eve MkII, Reboot and The Auxiliary.

Other top themes were present in only one film, for example for Question 4 “Demonstrates influence of social norms” was only present in Perfectly Natural; the theme “Disabled people may attempt treatment/experimentation” only in Reboot and “Students felt film was inspiring to them/others” only in Paramusical Ensemble. Under question 1 “religion” as a top theme was only mentioned in Adam & Eve MkII. Under question 2 “Climate change/global warming was only a top theme” in Adam & Eve MkII as was “Film foreshadows human extinction”. For Reboot a top theme question 2 was “Film raised awareness, most often towards mental health” and question 3 “Students disliked shock therapy”. As to Carlotta’s Face top themes were linked back often specificallly to blindness.

Student Responses for the Film Perfectly Natural

There was an average of 87.5 responses to the four questions for the film Perfectly Natural.

For example, concerning the perceived consequences of the film’s neurotechnology, students noted the film’s neurotechnology may:

• “interfere with my human experience”
• “lead to less human connectivity, and therefore poorer outcomes overall in terms of health”
• “change our way of life”
• “create larger gaps of status in our society”

Concerning the concepts demonstrated by this film, students felt the film demonstrated:

• “[technology] can never replace organic human connection that can only built through human touch, personal interaction, and communication”
• the “struggle [to] balance between personal and professional lives, especially families with young children”

Additionally, students stated that technology could be used to care for disabled people in question 4 for the film Perfectly Natural. However, students noted that using the film’s technology for this purpose may make disabled people feel as if they are not worthy of care and may interfere with their relationships.

Students also mentioned the theme of the COVID-19 in relation to Perfectly Natural, stating the film connected to the technology reliance that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. In question 3, the importance of human interaction was emphasized in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic by students. Students also connected the technology displayed in Perfectly Natural to social media, with social media described from a negative perspective.

Student Responses for the Film Adam & Eve MkII

There was an average of 85 student responses to each question for the film Adam & Eve MkII.

With Adam & Eve MkII, students noted they felt the films neurotechnology may:

• impact the “authenticity of mankind”
• “[defeat] the purpose of human beings and the uniqueness of it”
• “do more than a human”
• “[streamline] … everyone would have all of the same abilities, there would be no differences”

Climate change and/or global warming was a theme only mentioned within the film Adam & Eve MkII. Within question 3 for Adam & Eve MkII, students noted feeling a professional responsibility to mediate the repercussions of climate change, global warming, and other negative human impacts on the planet. Additionally, students felt this film may foreshadow future events, noting that:

• “My interpretation of this film was that Earth had been destroyed, likely due to environmental issues possibly related to global warming or after an impact from space like a meteorite, killing everything living on Earth. Adam and Eve, adhering to a biblical perspective, are the first human-like AI robots and were built to function as humans on a different planet. This is a very interesting concept that unfortunately does not seem very far-fetched as the impacts of global warming are constantly affecting our Earth”
• “I do feel that this again looks at the eugenics movement and the ethical concerns around this as there will likely be very little diversity, especially if there are no human beings. This would be the extinction of the human race, which with climate change progressing as rapidly as it has, this may be a plausible event.”

In the film Adam & Eve MkII, a common theme described was isolation, highlighting that the robots were experiencing loneliness.

There was an average of 83.25 student responses to each question for the film Reboot.

While expressing general sentiments towards the film Reboot, students noted that:

• “I have a lot of skepticism on the process and the probability of [electroconvulsive therapy” removing selective memories”
• “I believe the film is very gruesome however, it displays how impactful trauma can be on an individual no matter how much time has elapsed since the trauma”
• “I felt so sad for this man who is so tortured and desperate that he will try anything and doesn’t seem to have any resources to help himself except what he conjures up on his own.”

Many students disliked this film, sharing that:

• “It is an interesting concept of erasing the current memories to start over a new life but unrealistic and dangerous”
• “I have mixed feelings about this film as it romanticizes the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat mental illness, which I don’t agree with”

Though every film elicited sentiments of professional responsibility towards a specific task or action for question 3, only in the film Reboot was individual responsibility mentioned, with students stating they felt individuals had a responsibility to seek mental health support.

Students noted self-medication as a theme present in the film Reboot. All students that identified the theme stated the film shows a type of self-medication to deal with sadness, depression, grief, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Many students noted that the film might make people attempt treatment/experimentation after viewing the film Reboot, and that disabled people specifically may be very likely to attempt treatment/experimentation after watching this film.

There was an average of 30.25 student responses to each question for the film The Auxiliary. 56 students chose not to view the film as they perceived it to be too gruesome.

Though 56 out of 85 students chose not to view this film, as it was too gruesome, those who did frequently noted the themes of transhumanism present in this film.

• “I think the situation that is demonstrated in this film needs to be taken seriously in transhumanistic developments as a potential reality.”
• “I see the film as one showing the power and dominancy of the existence of technology, it controls, speaks and could decide the state of health of the users.”

When discussing the impact of these films on disabled people, many considered how these technologies could affect disabled people.

• “In the past, I believe that novel medical discoveries have been trialed on disabled people and I fear that if technology like this were to be created, scientists would abuse disabled people by making them test subjects with the subtle persuasion of, ‘this could create a better life for you.’”
• “[The] disabled population may be the ones to push for advancement of these AI. AI may increase the ability for many disabled people to live more independently.”

There was an average of 85.25 student responses to each question for the film Paramusical Ensemble.

Many students reported positive emotions towards this film, with many emphasizing the positive benefits of music therapy for both disabled and non-disabled individuals.

• “I think initiatives and programs such as this one has a great impact on people with varying abilities and everyone else involved.”
• “This project was able to change the lives of disabled people by giving them a way to express themselves, find their identity, and be creative. I believe that projects like the one demonstrated in the film have the potential to give the lives of severely disabled people meaning and purpose and therefore increase their overall happiness.”

There was an average of 83.5 student responses to each question for the film Carlotta’s Face.

There were 85 student responses to question 2. For the film Carlotta’s Face, 74 students believed this film to be impactful but did not specify whether positive or negative; 9 students said the film had a positive impact. There were 84 responses to question 3 for Carlotta’s Face, where students discussed feeling a professional responsibility towards a specific task or action (72), most commonly to understand and be aware of different disorders (23), awareness (13), and that the film demonstrates or helps people consider certain concepts (8), most often that we should not judge others and change how we treat others (3). Pertaining to question 4 for the film Carlotta’s Face, out of 83 student responses, 59 students did not specify how they believed the film impacted disabled people and 23 students stated the film had a positive impact on disabled people.

As this film contained no mention of neurotechnologies and instead explored the life of a disabled individual, many students highlighted disability studies concepts in their analysis.

• “This clip does a really great job in describing invisible limitations and the oppression that tends to coexist with it. It also raises a really great point in regard to how all ages discriminate if an ability does not fit within the cultural norms that exist in that population and connects varying abilities with having a deficit. The energy of this video felt very isolating and dark, if the intention was to display how the person narrating felt they did a really good job.”
• “I think this as well specifically showed those with disabilities to not let barriers the general population sees as a deal-breaker prevent you from doing things. In Carlotta’s case, the status quo would not think she would be able to produce art let alone portraits if she can’t visualize one, yet she proved everyone wrong”
• “The creation of these types of films can heighten awareness on the needs and feelings of disabled people and allow us to further understand how we can collectively support them.”

Question 1: What are your thoughts on the given film in general?

Our findings suggest that whether a film generates strong feelings and emotions depends on the film and the background of the viewer. In our case, one film, The Auxiliary, generated a very negative response due to it being seen as so gruesome that over half of the participants stopped watching it. On the other hand, the film Paramusical Ensemble, which showed a positive application of a neurotechnology for disabled people, generated the most positive response. This may be because the topic of brain-computer interface (BCI) as an intervention that increases the quality of life of disabled people is a sentiment that appeals to our participants, many of whom plan to go into jobs or already work in jobs with the aim to increase the quality of life of disabled people. In our case, The Auxiliary was much less effective in prompting the students to think about the social aspects of neurotechnologies than the other films because most students did not watch it to completion. Students often expressed that they did not understand certain parts of the films. Paramusical Ensemble stood out as the only film where no students indicated difficulty understanding certain aspects (Table 1), which could be attributed to the familiar subject matter portrayed. Given that all other films raised issues regarding clarity, it may be useful to have a setup where viewers are able to ask questions afterwards, whether in a festival or the classroom, to ensure that students and spectators understand the premise of the films.

With the exception of The Auxiliary, many students felt that the films helped people to consider and demonstrated certain concepts, indicating that showing these films is a useful pedagogical tool to stimulate discussions (Table 1). Students voiced for all films that the displayed technologies have an impact, whereby the students most often stated Paramusical Ensemble showcased a positive application of neurotechnology, likely a reflection again of the relatable nature of the film’s content. Most students flagged the neurotechnology as negative for the film Perfectly Natural (Table 1). That students had different reactions to different neurotechnologies shown in the different films suggests that the films might be a useful tool to discuss the social aspects of (varied) neurotechnologies, which is seen as a goal of art [180]. That the disability studies students flagged so many different issues around the social aspects of the neurotechnologies, including for disabled people, suggests that other disability studies students would benefit from assignments that made them think about the social aspects of science and technology, including neuro-advancement, in order to become socio-technically literate so that they can think about how to engage with science and technology, including neuro-advancement, in their role of being allies of disabled people and their goal of wanting to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people. A valuable addition would be a setup where clarity issues students flagged could be addressed. Sense-making influences the activity of the change agent by helping identify what should be changed but also influences the very understanding of the role of change agent [327]. Our study suggests that the films facilitated sense-making for the students.

Question 2: Do you think the given film has an impact on people watching it? If yes, what impact? If not, why not?

Most students indicated that the films impact the viewers. Very few stated that the films had no impact. Students gave very concrete impact examples (Tables 7–12), although they did not categorize them necessarily as positive or negative (which was not explicitly asked for with the question). However, by looking at the concrete impacts identified, some of them could be categorized as positive and others as negative. For example, students perceived the main impact of the film Carlotta’s Face as bringing awareness to a ‘disability’ (nearly half of the impact), which some students classified as a positive impact on viewers but others did not add a label to that (Table 12), although it very likely reflects the view that raising awareness is a positive impact on viewers. Similarly, the film Reboot also had the theme “awareness” under the unspecified impact, so no positive or negative was attached to it. But the subthemes under awareness suggest that the students felt it was a positive impact on viewers, for example, we think it is not a stretch to think that the subtheme under awareness “Film brought awareness to disabled life/mental illness/grief/PTSD/unhappiness with life/unique life” by 16 students (Table 9) would be seen as a positive impact on viewers by the student.

The impact of the film Paramusical Ensemble on viewers was most frequently classified as being positive, with nearly half of students saying so. The subthemes suggest that this positive view is linked to the positive portrayal of the use of BCI as devices for disabled people and the positive depiction of ‘disabled people’, which allowed students to relate in a positive way to the film given that they want to see the lives of disabled people being changed in a positive way.

The film The Auxiliary was seen as too gruesome, thus not being watched to completion by most participants. This suggests that this film might be the least effective as an educational tool or as a tool to have students and other viewers engage with the topic of the film.

The films were part of a film festival where participants were part of post-viewing discussions but were not given questions beforehand to be used as pointers. In general, interactivity, such as discussions or Q & A’s, is becoming increasingly popular in the sphere of film festivals [330, 331] although drawbacks are noted to offering interactivity [330]. Many of our participants indicated that they did not understand aspects of the films. This suggests that watching films without linked discussions or follow-up might be limiting depending on the background knowledge of the viewer. At the same time, the themes and subthemes that were voiced in response to questions 2 suggest that the films could be useful tools to trigger rich discussions after the films were watched and could help students link their role as change agents to the discussions of the technologies depicted in the films.

Neuro-advancements are one example of scientific and technological advancements that are identified as having positive potential for society but at the same time are noted to potentially pose many social and ethical problems [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. As such, neuro-advancements may impact many jobs disability studies students might go into, ranging from being policymakers, educators, and allied health professionals, to working in disability advocacy and disability service organizations. Neuro-advancement might also influence the goal of being an ally to disabled people in their private lives.

Many students emphasized how technologies depicted in all films except Carlotta’s Face could impact future work, specifically how the technologies presented in the films may eliminate or limit the demand for a certain role. Students noted that the technology depicted in the film Adam & Eve MkII may impact their future work the most (31), followed by Perfectly Natural (23) and Paramusical Ensemble (12). For Adam & Eve MkII, students felt the film’s neurotechnology may force them to compete or potentially compete with technology for employment (9), that the film’s neurotechnology may change/limit jobs (8), and that the ethical issues concerning the film’s neurotechnology and their profession must be addressed or regulated (5). As to specific professions, physical therapy (2), occupational therapy (1), and special education teachers (1) were mentioned. Students felt that the technology in the film Perfectly Natural may impact their work by eliminating or limiting the need for certain jobs (11), forcing them to compete or potentially compete with technology for employment (5), and making them consider working with said technology in the future (4). Within this theme, students explicitly mentioned occupational therapy (2) and physical therapy (2). For Paramusical Ensemble, students noted that the film’s neurotechnology may have a positive professional impact on their profession (24), that the film’s neurotechnology is already used in their future profession (3), and that the film’s neurotechnology may improve the lives of disabled people by giving them independence (2).

Our findings suggest that for all films that portrayed neuro-advancements, respondents felt that the neurotechnologies shown might influence their very work. Students noted that being an advocate for inclusion was an important theme in the film Carlotta’s Face (14), which was linked to professions like occupational therapy (6) and special needs teachers (2), upholding the role of enhancing inclusion and acceptance. Advocating for inclusion was also mentioned by students in relation to the film Paramusical Ensemble (2) while recognizing disability discrimination, though there was no linkage towards any specific profession. Advocacy was not mentioned as a theme in relation to the other films. The films Carlotta’s Face and Paramusical Ensemble also triggered thoughts on the professional role of being a teacher/educator; discussion after the films might generate even more detailed thoughts on this theme. Given that the students suggested that their work might be impacted by neuro-advancements and given the role expectations of them, one avenue for further discussions could be to link the impacts seen by many students to the roles expected from the students in their future (envisioned) endeavors that intersect with disabled people.

Responsibility as a professional was a theme triggered by all the films, such as balancing technology and in-person interaction, understanding current technology and impacts, and supporting and validating clients. Carlotta’s Face made students feel a professional responsibility the most (72), followed by Reboot (64) and Perfectly Natural (45). Students noted the film Carlotta’s Face made them feel a professional responsibility to understand different disorders (23), to not pass judgment (13), and to recognize and account for disability discrimination/advocate for inclusion and acceptance (12). For Reboot, students described a professional responsibility to support/validate clients (18), to focus on mental health (15), and to inform clients of all treatment options (10). For Perfectly Natural, students felt a professional responsibility to balance technology and in-person interaction (10), to understand current technology and its impact (6), and to support/validate clients (4).

Given that our participants mentioned responsibility so often, it suggests that a discussion after the films might generate more thoughts on the topic of the responsibility of professionals and other occupation-related activities that intersect with disabled people, such as being allies to disabled people in their private lives and in their future employment, being educators, being policymakers, and working in disability service/disability advocacy organizations. The theme of responsibility students voiced could, for example, easily be applied to the expectations of what an ally ought to do, specifically in regards to educating themselves, giving disabled people a voice, and other responsibilities that are linked to being an authentic ally [78]. As previously mentioned, lifelong learning [269, 275,276,277,278,279] is an important tool for health professionals such as nurses [263, 264, 280, 281], social workers [282,283,284], speech language pathologists [261, 285, 286], and occupational therapists [287, 288]. Lifelong learning is also used in relation to active citizenship [275, 289,290,291,292,293,294], is expected from allies [78] and is said to be an increasingly important aspect to learn about neurotechnologies [332,333,334,335]. Our findings suggest that the films could be used for lifelong learning not just for health professionals but also to strengthen the role of our students as allies, to enable our students to make a positive difference in the lives of disabled people by becoming socio-technically literate and to enable our students to be involved in the governance of neurotechnologies. However, given that many of our participants indicated that they did not understand aspects of the films, hosting discussions for clarification after watching the films may be advisable. Discussions may lead to deeper engagement with the content, in turn rendering the content increasingly impactful. Discussions could be used to enrich the discourse around responsibility; for example, what is the responsibility of people involved in science and technology governance towards disabled people and society? Do they have a responsibility? What would it mean for people engaged in science and technology governance to be allies of disabled people?

Disabled people often serve as targets for the development of neuro-advancements, but many problems with neuro-advancements have been flagged over the years [46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58]. Our respondents indicated many consequences that the neurotechnologies depicted in the films could have for disabled people. Few students believed the film had no impact on disabled people.

There are many ways disabled people could be impacted by neurotechnology/neuro-advancements besides solely as users/beneficiaries. The impacts mentioned in relation to AI/neuro, for example, are.

1. a)as potential users of AI/Neuro-advanced products and processes,
2. b)by the changing societal parameters caused by societal use of AI/Neuro-enabled products and processes,
3. c)by products and processes that employ AI/Neuro being able to outperform humans in a given task, and
4. d)by how the autonomous behavior of AI-enabled Neuro products and processes plays itself out ([336], p. 170)

This study’s clearest linkage was to theme a) the role for disabled people as therapeutic users of the technology, was seen with responses to the film Paramusical Ensemble. Participants noted transhumanism as a theme in three films, which refers to enhancement beyond the species-typical norm; a reflection may be that most of the participants were exposed to this concept during their degree before viewing the films. Interestingly, students did not link transhumanism to the film Paramusical Ensemble, although the film featured BCI technology, which could be seen to provide beyond species-typical abilities to the wearer. All films led students to state that the neurotechnologies depicted could have positive and negative consequences for disabled people. It is well reported that human enhancement impacts disabled people [336,337,338,339,340,341]. Involving disabled people in post-film discussions or as content generators may diversify viewers perceptions of neuro-advancements, allowing people not linked to disabled people to see more impacts, both positive and negative, of neuro-advancements beyond a therapeutic impact.

Disabled people are one main target group for scientific and technological advancements, including neuro-advancements. It is noted that.

“Disabled people’s current situation and futures are impacted in different ways by science and technology governance and activism regarding their roles as being non-therapeutic users (consumer angle), therapeutic users (patient angle), diagnostic targets (diagnostics to prevent ‘impairment’ or to judge one’s ability), potential arguments (preventing impairment) for science and technology governance and activism, and being impacted by changing societal parameters caused by science and technology’s product vision, governance and activism (e.g., changes in ability expectations), and the negative use of science and technology (war)” ([88], p. 3).

However, it is noted that disabled artists and their art are not linked to science and technology governance, including being educators on science and technology [88].

Theme b) was reflected by participants describing how AI/neuro products may result in changing ability expectations. Students recognized that the advanced abilities provided by said technologies may result in changed societal parameters whereby the use of technology may become necessary to remain a valued member of society. This was often connected to transhumanism, where technology is used by humans to surpass species-typical abilities [339]. People who cannot afford these enhancements or refuse them can be referred to as techno-poor disabled, and as many disabled exist in a social state of disadvantage and already lack desired abilities, they will be left even further behind in the abilities rat-race [340]. Some of the impacts noted by students surrounding changing ability expectations were that changing ability expectations may result in discrimination, a change in the definition of what it means to be disabled, a divide between disabled people concerning whether they choose to pursue these advancements, and the sentiment that a disabled life is not one worth living. In their response to question 4 for the film Adam & Eve MkII, the technology shown was described as both positive and negative by one student:

“I think that this kind of technology could be beneficial to disabled people who wish to have the option to adapt their ‘sub species typical’ abilities would help them to gain mobility and autonomy over their body. This modification could have a negative affect because ‘species typical’ people could also adapt their abilities and this would create a gap in abilities.”

This shows that opinions on neurotechnology may be influenced by the conditions of their usage. This student saw that though this technology could be beneficial to disabled people to help them meet pre-existing ability expectations, this technology could also further disadvantage disabled people (relatively) if used by non-disabled individuals. Furthermore, it was also noted that there could be disparities surrounding who can access this technology, which would in turn result in increased inequalities. One student commented that this technology would have a negative impact as.

“this type of technology would be very expensive and not everyone would be able to access it, which would expand on the access barriers that already exist.”.

While many students were quick to note that technology may replace their professions and eliminate certain aspects of their future career roles in question 3, students did not connect theme c) to the fact that technology may outperform disabled people in their roles, which could be an issue for the goal of occupational therapists to enable meaningful occupation for their clients [342]. It was often noted that technology may be used to care for disabled people, hence outperforming individuals in a way. However, this was often framed in the manner that technology may be used to care for disabled people not because it would outperform humans, but because humans would prefer not to care for disabled people. Concerning Perfectly Natural, one student noted that.

“Given what we see within the film I think that a lot of people would recommend something such as Future Families for a person with a learning disability. The reason I think this is because there is a lot of people that would rather not deal with people who have a learning disability and instead would place them on such technology so that they learn through the technology instead.”

While some suggested the use of technology to care for disabled people would improve the lives of disabled people, other students put forth that this would make disabled people feel they are not worthy of care and interfere with their relationships. The fact that students foresaw technology replacing their jobs but not the jobs of disabled people might be a reflection on that there are many news items that discuss the impact of technologies on jobs, like which job is in the highest danger of being replaced, but that this discussion is about the non-disabled population. As such students might simply not have been triggered through prior exposure to think about the angle of the negative impact of technologies on the jobs of disabled people and so they did not make the connection when they answered question 4. It also suggest that students were not exposed to this angle in courses they took. Students did not make the linkage between the type of jobs disabled people mostly occupy [343] and that these jobs are low-hanging fruits to be replaced by robots [343, 344]. It has been described that due to the technological overhaul of jobs, disabled people will either be forced out of work or forced to adapt, as it is noted automation will result in increasing skill requirements from human employees [345], which may be difficult depending on what the new ability requirements are. Disabled people already live in a society plagued by ability expectations they cannot meet or have to alter themselves to meet [338]. Increasing skill requirements for human employees, which are noted to be a consequence of the technological overhaul of jobs, are simply another example of changing ability expectations that disabled people may again not be able to meet or have to alter themselves to meet [345]. As such, disabled people may not only be the first to be subjected to neurotechnologies, but also the ones to experience the effect of automation on the workforce.

Theme d) was mentioned in relation to disabled people by the many comments describing the effect of technology on disabled people, specifically in relation to the consequences described in the films. For the film Carlotta’s Face, one student noted that.

“This film showcases how a technology designed to make life easier, ends up having very negative consequences. This film could positively impact individuals with diverse abilities because it shows that using technology to improve aspects of your life can have a negative effect. A lot of technology is made to ‘improve’ individuals with diverse abilities quality of life, not taking into account how these individuals feel about their lifestyle.”

It was noted that how neurotechnologies and AI play out may have many consequences for disabled people specifically, such as changing ability expectations, interfering with human connection, and the elimination of disability/ability diversity.

We gained some important insights into the views of our participants on neuro-advancement. As to the top three themes (Tables 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15), some top themes for each question showed up in more than one film, and other top themes for each question were present in only one film. This result suggests that students reflected in a differentiated way on the films for each question,, which in turn is an indicator that the films were a useful tool to expose students to the social implications of neurotechnologies.

The positive feedback to the assignment suggests that using films is a good tool to expose critical disability studies students to science and technology governance, including neuro-governance discussions. Especially with follow-up activities and ways to answer the questions the films raised for students, we suggest that the films are a good tool to engage participants in neuro-governance discussions and to increase students’ socio-scientific literacy on neuro-advancement. Having the data might be useful to tailor other course content to build on this insight. A lot has been written about making science students socio-scientifically literate [42,43,44,45], but little is known about the socio-scientific literacy of disability studies students. We found in our pre-search only one study [59] that asked for views of disability studies students on neurotechnologies. The breadth of thought given by our participants suggests that they had valuable insights to share, and their views indicate that they have a stake in how neurotechnologies are advanced. Therefore, the perspectives of critical disability studies students on scientific and technological advancements, including neuro-advancements, should be explored further, and these topics should be more prominently incorporated into disability studies degrees.

Our study design is an exploratory one, and the intent was not to generate generalizable data. Indeed, results suggest many follow-up studies may be valuable to examine how different sets of participants would react to the films and answer these questions. Furthermore, this was a marked essay-style course assignment. As such, the questions were phrased to cover four broad areas that fit with the course content and objective and the background of the students. Students who are linked to other degrees, such as science and technology studies, ethics, education, engineering and health sciences, but also different disability studies degrees and years of study, or any other demography, may contribute different perspectives to this study. Furthermore, these were asynchronous classes with no live interactions. Other classes with virtual or in-person live interactions could ask follow-up questions based on what students provided as answers already and have students debate the follow-up questions in real time. Students could also ask questions that arose for them from watching the films. That would add depth to how students can make sense of the films.

Our findings suggest that the films triggered students to think in a differentiated way about the subject, suggesting that these films might be useful to trigger engagement with the social aspects of neuro-advancement in the classroom. The film The Auxiliary was seen as too gruesome by most participants, leading many to opt out of watching the full film or responding to the questions about the film. The film Paramusical Ensemble elicited the most positive reaction from participants, very likely due to its topic of using technology to help disabled people in their social reality. Many students in the university-based course evaluation suggested that they enjoyed the film assignment, suggesting that showing neuro-art films might be a useful tool to engage students in discussions around the impact of neurotechnologies. Our study suggests that the films themselves sometimes lacked specificity, especially as to what impact technologies might have. Additionally, various students found certain aspects of the films confusing and in need of explanation. Follow-up discussions could clarify questions students had. Follow-up discussions would also very likely trigger more engagement with the content and the messaging of the films and would allow students to be exposed to the views of their classmates. Students in critical disability studies programs have very specific identities and understanding of self, which influenced them to join such a program. Future research could examine how students from the critical disability studies program from other universities and students from other degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels respond to the same questions and whether the films lead to different answers and thoughts. One could also invite people from different backgrounds to discuss the same films with the students, like disabled people and non-disabled people, students from different disability studies programs, students from non-disability studies degrees, and also disabled and non-disabled artists, all of whom would bring different expertise to the topic. We find it particularly useful within a critical disability studies degree to give space to disabled artists, as disabled artists are uniquely situated as potential content creators that can easily link advancements in science and technology, including neuro-advancements, to their lived experiences. They could also spark discussion regarding how to make a film that students could relate to and would trigger thoughts on the topic.

Future research can also focus on aspects we did not cover. For example, it would be interesting to ascertain what the views of critical disability studies students are on neurohacking (Do it yourself DIY neuro) [4], for themselves and for disabled people, whereby one could ask this for many different neuro-products. One could also make the questions more fine-grained, such as specifying under questions 3 different areas, such as being allies of disabled people, being educators, being policymakers, and working in disability service organizations, disability advocacy organizations and in allied health professions. One aspect that did not come out in the answers is the impact of the intersectionality of disabled people with other marginalized identities on how neuro-advancements are approached, perceived, and implemented. Given the importance of the intersectionality aspect for disabled people [346], this would be one aspect to explore deeper in follow-up discussions after the film screenings.