The role of photos in social media interactions of adult Arabs with autism spectrum disorder

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face difficulties in everyday life with their communicationand interaction skills. Due to preferences for visual stimuli, photos have been used to supportcommunication and to teach interaction and social skills. In Arab countries, adults on the autismspectrum experience the same difficulties in addition to dealing with other issues, such as stigmawithin society, a lack of services, cultural rules and the inability to sufficiently benefit from existingtechnologies designed according to the culture and language of Western countries. Previous studieshave shown that social networks could be used by adults with ASD to help them build connections andovercome their difficulties with social skills. However, the benefits of social networks have been largelyabsent in the lives of Arab adults with ASD. This study focuses on the use of Facebook by Arab adultswith ASD and the role of photos on their communication and interactions; the help of family andfriends for preventing online vulnerability issues is taken into consideration. The study also focuses onthe cultural aspects that could have an impact on the use of social networks by adult Arabs with ASD