Requirements of a Supportive Environment for People on the Autism Spectrum: A Human-Centered Design Story

People on the autism spectrum have a different perception of the environment than neurotypical people and often require support in various activities of daily living. Assistive technology can support those affected, but very few smart-home-like technologies exist. To support people on the autism spectrum in their autonomy and safety and to help caregivers, a smart home and interior design environment was developed. Requirements were gathered by employing a holistic human-centered design approach through interactive workshops and questionnaires to create a useful and user-friendly solution. From this process, requirements for a comprehensive solution (the SENSHOME environment) emerged. These requirements include a set of functionalities tailored to the needs of people on the autism spectrum, such as a crowd warning that informs when many people are in a certain area (for example, the entrance), an automatic light regulation system, or a daily life planner that supports task completion. Furthermore, inclusive furniture elements such as a refuge seat or a table with dividers can support wellbeing, autonomy, and safety. This paper demonstrates a consequent and considerable participatory research approach and the story from the target group and context of use through design requirements to the initial design solution of the SENSHOME environment

Partecipazione attiva alla ricerca: il design centrato sull'utente nel progetto SENShome

People on the autism spectrum face challenges in different areas of life that can be supported by a smart home and interior design solution developed in the SENSHome project. A guideline is provided through the Human Centered Design approach, that includes methods and tools to assist the design process from the very beginning. Through workshops, the users and the context of use were considered in order to derive requirements for a comprehensive solution. Personas, which represent too a corresponding depiction of activities of daily living, risk factors, and mitigating measure served as a basis for the later development of the requirements and functionalities of the SENSHome environment.Alcune sfide che le persone autistiche si ritrovano a dover affrontare nella vita di tutti i giorni possono essere supportate da una soluzione di smart home e interior design, come quella prevista dal progetto SENSHome. L'approccio Human Centered Design fornisce linee guida che includono metodi e strumenti per supportare il processo progettuale fin dall'inizio. Per mezzo di workshop sono stati intervistati i possibili utilizzatori del sistema proposto e analizzato il contesto d'uso, al fine di ricavare i requisiti per una soluzione completa. L'elaborazione dei "Personas", che rappresentano i potenziali utenti e una corrispondente rappresentazione delle attività della vita quotidiana, dei fattori di rischio e delle misure di mitigazione, sono servite come base per il successivo sviluppo dei requisiti e delle funzionalità dell'ambiente SENSHome