Building applications that matter: Co-designing with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

Technology-based applications for people with special needs are on the rise as mobile devices and wearable technology become more pervasive in society. However, the development of applications for special needs can be an intricate process due to the physical or mental challenges of the prospective users. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) process the world differently and often encounter poor User Experience (UX) with applications that are not designed with them in mind. Application design approaches should be inclusive and partner with users and communities to increase application acceptance, improve useable features and create enjoyable interfaces; yet this is not current software design practice. A pilot study was conducted to investigate how adolescents with ASD use technology and explore how they could participate as co-designers in the early phases of application development. Two co-design workshops were conducted with six adolescents with ASD over one month where they engaged in the application ideation and design phases of a software design process through the use of group discussion and drawings. This paper presents the results of the pilot study and discusses the role of ASD participants in co-designing software applications for wearable technology and how they felt about their involvement in the process. Key themes were identified by thematic analysis of the data collected. Preliminary data suggest that participants: (1) are technology savvy users; (2) experience poor UX due to their unique perceptive; and (3) expect to make design decisions for applications built for them.