Neuro-diversifying tech: a toolkit for designing with autistic people

Our digital technologies are mostly designed by and for neurotypicals. This means they are often unsuitable and challenging for autistic people. We believe things could be different. As part of the Autistic Adults Online project, we partnered with autistic people to rethink the design of social media. Out of that work came numerous suggestions for exciting new social media features, and a toolbox of methods and materials to engage autistic people in design. In this talk, we will present and explain the toolbox, which is available under a CC license at https://github.com/autisticadultsonline/autisticadultsonline/blob/main/Designers%20Toolkit%20Final%20Version.pdf

About the speaker:

Belén has been an interaction designer and design researcher since 2007. She has worked on all kinds of software: from websites and web applications to mobile operating systems and tools for developers. She was awarded her PhD in Human Computer Interaction in 2021, and she is now a lecturer in the Centre for HCI Design at City, University of London. Her research focuses on financial technologies, participatory design methods and groups of people neglected and forgotten by the software industry.