Bridging Two Worlds: Co-designing social spaces for autism

From a neurodiversity perspective, autism is a form of human diversity. Neurodivergent people often find it challenging to meaningfully connect and interact with others in the physical world because they process information and connect with the world differently than many others. Virtual worlds have affordances that allow neurodivergent people to navigate, process information, and socially interact with others with much less effort than in the physical world, and thereby to thrive with their unique perceptual and cognitive styles. Through a series of iterative and inductive co-creation activities, three neurodivergent adults from different virtual autism communities and the author embarked on a journey to: (1) gain a better understanding of the unique affordances of the virtual world that allow neurodivergent people to express their thoughts and connect meaningfully with others; and (2) co-design with neurodivergent adults social spaces in the physical world that incorporate these affordances. A virtual reality (VR) space and an augmented reality (AR) application are the results.

 

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Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 11:15am