Neurodiversity HCI

The objective of this paper is to introduce neurodiversity movement. Like Feminist HCI[5] neurodiversity critiques the implicit notion of ‘user’ in the singular. Neurodiversity suggests that current approaches carry with them certain assumptions about the cognitive processing abilities of users which need to be challenged. This paper is concerned with the design and evaluation of interactive systems that are imbued with an awareness of the central commitments of neurodiversity. The paper seeks to identify and promote neurodiversity under the banner of neurodiversity HCI. This paper introduces neurodiversity and then critically evaluates aspects of HCI from the neurodiversity perspective

Diversity for design: a framework for involving neurodiverse children in the technology design process

The neurodiversity movement seeks to positively reframe certain neurological conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and dyslexia, by concentrating on their strengths. In recent years, neurodiverse children have increasingly been involved in the technology design process, but the design approaches adopted have focused mostly on overcoming difficulties of working with these children, leaving their strengths untapped. We present a new participatory design (PD) framework, Diversity for Design (D4D), which provides guidance for technology designers working with neurodiverse children in establishing PD methods that capitalize on children’s strengths and also support potential difficulties. We present two case studies of use of the D4D framework, involving children with ASD and dyslexia, showing how it informed the development and refinement of PD methods tailored to these populations. In addition, we show how to apply the D4D framework to other neurodiverse populations

Beyond autism and technology: lessons from neurodiverse populations

Purpose – This short paper reports on the sixth seminar in a 7-seminar series entitled, “Innovative Technologies for Autism: Critical Reflections on Digital Bubbles”, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The aim of this particular seminar was to reflect upon the implications from neurodiverse communities for the development of technology for autism. Design/methodology/approach – Presentations from key researchers and parental perspectives are reviewed, highlighting contemporary issues in neurodiverse populations that have important implications for autism. Findings – Whilst there are many conditions associated with autism, most commonly intellectual disability (learning difficulties), this is not reflected in research. In addition, for child-based research, researchers are at least a generation older than participants and have had different digital-childhoods. Involving neurodiverse populations within participatory design sessions can address both of these issues. Understanding the context of the issues that the participatory design sessions address is crucial for developing participatory design principles that extend from one condition to another. This includes understanding when findings based upon verbal populations can be extended to nonverbal populations. Originality/value – This paper offers up-to-date insights into how design principles from one condition extend to different conditions. Universal interaction and neurodiversity HCI are considered. This is important within neurodiverse populations, especially given the high rates of additional conditions that are associated with autism. Whilst the majority of autism research has involved verbal populations, the benefits of technology can extend to non-verbal populations

Two sides of the same coin: accessibility practices and neurodivergent users' experience of extended reality

Purpose: This paper explores the accessibility barriers faced by neurodivergent individuals regarding the use of Extended Reality (XR) technologies and the difficulties faced by developers in creating neurodivergent inclusive XR experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors carried out a survey with neurodivergent participants, and a series of semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent adults and XR developers. Findings: Neurodivergent individuals experience sensory overload when using XR technologies; these negative experiences are exacerbated by excessive multisensory stimulation. Allowing for the customization of sensory settings was seen as the only way to potentially limit negative experiences. The authors found that XR developers lacked awareness of accessibility requirements and struggled to integrate them in current software development practices. Social implications: Accessibility understanding regarding neurodivergence is increasingly available and the time has come to bring computing and information services within the reach of all neurodivergent individuals. The power in the design of XR, which is crucial, is decentralized from neurotypical XR developing practices to avoid artificial barriers that decrease the quality of life. Originality/value: There is a lack of studies exploring how neurodivergent individuals experience XR considering their different sensory processing patterns. There is also no research exploring XR developers' awareness of accessibility needs of neurodivergent individuals. This paper presents an account of the challenges faced by neurodivergent XR users, the difficulties faced by XR developers to integrate neurodivergent accessibility requirements, and proposes specific strategies to overcome challenges

The Lights Are Too Loud: Neurodivergence in the Student Affairs Profession

Much of the current scholarly literature on neurodiversity in higher education tends to focus solely on the experiences of neurodiverse students. There is a significant gap in the literature that highlights how neurodiverse professionals survive and thrive in careers in higher education. Utilizing the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) Methodology, this paper aims to address the current literature gap by using the existing research, coupled with the author\u27s personal experiences, to emphasize the unique needs of neurodiverse people on college campuses. The author offers recommendations for stakeholders in higher education to create equitable and accessible spaces for neurodiverse people on campus. By highlighting the unique needs of neurodiverse people in higher education, the paper aims to validate and amplify their experiences in the higher education sphere

"Hey, Can You Add Captions?": The Critical Infrastructuring Practices of Neurodiverse People on TikTok

Accessibility efforts, how we can make the world usable and useful to as many people as possible, have explicitly focused on how we can support and allow for the autonomy and independence of people with disabilities, neurotypes, chronic conditions, and older adults. Despite these efforts, not all technology is designed or implemented to support everyone's needs. Recently, a community-organized push by creators and general users of TikTok urged the platform to add accessibility features, such as closed captioning to user-generated content, allowing more people to use the platform with greater ease. Our work focuses on an understudied population -- people with ADHD and those who experience similar challenges -- exploring the creative practices people from this community engage in, focusing on the kinds of accessibility they create through their creative work. Through an interview study exploring the experiences of creatives on TikTok, we find that creatives engage in critical infrastructuring -- a process of bottom-up (re)design -- to make the platform more accessible despite the challenges the platform presents to them as creators. We present these critical infrastructuring practices through the themes of: creating and augmenting video editing infrastructures and creating and augmenting video captioning infrastructures. We reflect on the introduction of a top-down infrastructure - the implementation of an auto-captioning feature - shifts the critical infrastructure practices of content creators. Through their infrastructuring, creatives revised sociotechnical capabilities of TikTok to support their own needs as well as the broader needs of the TikTok community. We discuss how the routine of infrastructuring accessibility is actually best conceptualized as incidental care work. We further highlight how accessibility is an evolving sociotechnical construct, and forward the concept of contextual accessibility.Comment: To be published in: Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. CSCW '2

"My Perfect PlatformWould Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580673https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.358067

Synesthetic visualization: balancing sensate experience and sense making in digitized print collections

Large-scale digitization appears to put literary collections at one’s fingertips, but, as some critical observers warn, the books themselves are increasingly out of reach as libraries continue to shift from being “physical repositories and research spaces” to becoming “access portals” to digitized materials (Stauffer, 2012). The digital surrogates of print books preserve verbal content but not their many meaningful physical features, which are largely obscured in digitization processes. As many critics recognize, with the passing of the age of print we have become increasingly aware of “the assumptions, presuppositions, and practices associated with it” (Hayles, 2012), and by contrast we glimpse the devaluation of materiality that appears to haunt digital culture (Hayles, 1999). What are the best ways to treat print-based collections digitally? How can we harness the potential of digital media to better represent and analyze cultural collections, accentuating their unique aesthetic and material qualities while also allowing for diverse perspectives and rich linking supported by computer-assisted content analyses? In this paper we synthesize perspectives from book history, reception studies, literary studies, information visualization, human computer interaction (HCI) and digital arts to discuss practical approaches to these questions. Working with the Bob Gibson anthologies of speculative fiction—a unique collection of periodical-based science fiction selectively assembled, annotated, and bound into 888 handcrafted booklets by an avid science fiction fan, collector and artist—we explore possibilities for digital synesthesia and multi-modal interaction in sketching how digital representations of print collections can go far beyond typical digital library interfaces. By embracing a synergy between content-related metadata and physical artifactual characteristics (e.g. size, weight, paper texture, typography), we seek to engage multiple sensory modalities and provoke critical and aesthetic engagement with digitized print collections.Postprin