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What is it like to be autistic?

Being on the autistic spectrum is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how people communicate, interact with others, and behave. Common traits that impact the user experience (UX) of mobile or web applications include: difficulty with social interaction and communication, repetitive behaviours and restricted interests, hyper-focusing on details, difficulty transitioning between activities, and anxiety.

Autism is a wide spectrum, and we all develop our own coping mechanisms as we move from childhood to adulthood. Some achieve high functionality within society, while others may become more withdrawn. This is very much dictated by a person’s own personal life path.

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How can you accommodate people with Autism?

You don’t have to create a different website or mobile application, to cater specifically for people with Autism (or anyone with a neurodevelopmental condition). Whilst autistic traits can come into play when using web and mobile applications, it’s not about  human-to-human interaction with its inherent complexities, it's about interaction with software. 

Features that irritate or confuse people with Autism, would likely irritate or confuse everyone. The “Don’t Make Me Think, Stupid” principles fully apply here, and are still considered a landmark. How often do you experience Support chatbots that do nothing but try to be nice to you, then direct you to unrelated help links? 

Remember, wasting people’s time online is a big faux-pas - especially for those with Autism. 

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Accessibility and Autism

There is a wealth of guides and information already out there on Accessibility-friendly UX (the overall experience a user has with a product, service, or company) and Design. It's all sound advice, so where can it go wrong? 

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‍Marketing Often Precedes UX in Company Priorities

‍There are inevitable tensions that form between UX and marketing teams because of their differing approaches to users, and differing priorities.

• Marketing teams strongly rely on self-reporting from users (focus groups and surveys). 
• UX-research teams largely rely on observing user behaviours.

Sometimes, traditional marketing-research methods, like focus groups, are used inappropriately to evaluate user interfaces. Including a focus group with people with Autism and other disabilities (both seen and unseen) is a good first step for marketing and UX to find an ideal common ground.

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‍UX Design Approach (superfluous features)

‍It is common to add features that "look cool", and animations to make the website or app look “alive”.  This can actually be an immediate irritation, as we generally experience a barrage of ”look at me!” behaviours from web and mobile apps. Whilst the design is important, it should not be too distracting or confusing for assistive devices to navigate.

It’s also important to make sure that the user interface is visually clear, so as not to cause cognitive overload. Some examples of this are considering not using too many colours, not having large chunks of text (lists or bullets are easier on the eye than long paragraphs), and maintaining internal and external consistency with things like font, and button styles. Considerations such as this will make for an overall smoother user experience, not just for those with Autism, but for everyone. 

People with Autism appreciate a light touch with design and UX. A lot of marketing drives assume the users will want to "join in" with a community or feedback programmes. This just doesn’t appeal to many with Autism, especially. Because of our inner conflicts toward society and the way it works, we only want to focus energy on real relationships - not marketing-generated ones.

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‍Conclusion

‍Focus on UX, avoid over-marketing and keep your design lean. If you want to widen your audience, then treat them like people - not just marketing targets. You will be surprised how people with Autism can readily engage, when we are inspired to. I am not saying it’s the same for all on the autistic spectrum, but I will always remember and mention a well designed mobile or web app, with good UX. 

We are not an impossible audience, we just don't like wasting our time on fake emotional engagement (common marketing ploy). But isn’t that the same for everyone? 

Written by Paul Littlebury

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