Neurodiverse communications!
There are complex, even philosophical issues at stake, when it comes to the question of empathy. Can one ever really step into the shoes of the other? This dilemma becomes quite clear in the case of
#neurodivergence, for example #autism. Autistic people have in the past been ‘accused’ (in leading theories of autism) of fundamentally not being able to empathize with others. Such theories are now increasingly abandoned by researchers, under rightful protest of autistic advocates.
Because, if anything, we have in fact what is called hashtag #DoubleEmpathy problem (a term coined by autistic scholar Damian Milton): In #neurodiverse #communication, both sides have difficulty empathizing with the lived experiences of the other, simply because these experiences can be so radically different from one another. (We often do not realise, how much we rely on a shared familiar background of similar lived experiences, to make communication go smooth and easy.)
So, then, how does a designer ensure that the
#lived #experience of #autistic young adults are central to the #design of
#assistive and #supportive #technologies?
One way to do it, we figured, is to simply stop trying to empathize as designers and instead let hashtag
#neurodivergent people design their own things, out of their own experience. “Empathy from within”!
A new challenge emerges: how can we then support people in empathizing with themselves, and how can we help them design their own things? Furthermore, as design is traditionally helped by communication and co-production in design teams: can we still organize the process as a social interaction process, in which important others (in particular care-givers) play a productive role, yet without taking over control and enforce their neurotypical perspective?
Yes we can! But you might need a
#toolkit! 🤗
We introduced the #DesignYourLife toolkit in the journal of enabling technologies in 2021 and won a best paper award for it:
And in a paper in the Journal Co-design:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15710882.2023.2295952
We also presented it at
#DRS2022 https://lnkd.in/eCTJi5fT
and at #DRS2024 in Boston: https://lnkd.in/eSZRPy_x
And in that same week, we also presented our latest insights on the role of the hashtag
#caregiver as a #codesigner who of course has their own valid lived experiences and interests into the process, at #design4health in Sheffield: