Empowered by design: Findings from a supportive technology research project with autistic young adults

Central to Design Your Life (DYL) is a toolkit that helps autistic young adults develop their own supportive devices. Within a seventeen-month period, fifteen participants worked on a wide variety of devices related to decision-making, nutrition, social interaction, and more. DYL aims to empower end users by (1) providing a supportive device with practical value and (2) offering an insightful and enjoyable design process with intrinsic value. This paper presents the main findings. We used data from fourteen evaluation interviews and ten follow-up interviews, conducted two weeks and three months after the design process. Interview transcripts were thematically analyzed and the outcomes were discussed in a multistakeholder meeting involving members of the autistic community. Overall, participants attributed the most value to supportive technology in the areas of management, self-confidence, and social support. Supportive technology helped several participants better explain their support needs to trusted others. Supportive technology was also described as a sense-making tool, to explore how to navigate a world that is largely shaped for and by non-autistic people. These and other findings bolster new appreciations of supportive technology by autistic young adults.

「设计你的生活（Design Your Life, DYL）」的核心是一款工具套件，可帮助自闭症青年开发专属的辅助支持设备（supportive device）。在为期十七个月的研究周期中，十五名参与者开发了涵盖决策辅助、营养管理、社交互动等多个领域的多样辅助支持设备。DYL的设计目标是赋能终端用户，具体通过两大路径实现：（1）提供具备实用价值的辅助支持设备；（2）打造兼具洞察性与趣味性、拥有内在价值的设计实践流程。本文将呈现本研究的核心发现。研究团队采集了设计流程结束后两周及三个月时开展的14次评估访谈与10次跟进访谈的数据，对访谈转录文本进行了主题分析，并在包含自闭症群体成员在内的多方利益相关者会议中，对分析结果展开了研讨。总体而言，参与者认为辅助支持技术（supportive technology）在自我管理、自信心提升与社会支持三大领域最具价值。多款辅助支持设备帮助部分参与者更清晰地向信任的他人表达自身的支持需求。此外，参与者将辅助支持技术视作一种意义建构工具，用于探索如何在一个主要由非自闭症群体塑造并主导的世界中找寻前行路径。上述及其他研究发现，进一步强化了自闭症青年群体对辅助支持技术的全新认知与认可。