Autism Awareness Month
April 1, 2024, kicked off National Autism Awareness month. National Autism Awareness Month focuses on raising awareness about this widespread disability, as about 1 in 36 children in the United States are diagnosed with autism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex, lifelong developmental disability. While ASD impacts people differently, people with autism often share similar sets of behaviors that can impact how they behave, communicate, interact, and learn. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). However, as ASD is a spectrum disorder, the abilities of people living with it can vary significantly.
While people living with autism can have problems with social interaction, communication, and cognitive and motor difficulties, technology can often help them live functional lives. Computers, for example, aid many people with autism because of the predictability of their responses and their capability to conduct communication through symbols and synthesized speech, such as text-to-speech software. Let’s go over several assistive technology options that can assist people living with autism.
Alternative Mouse Technology
People with autism may have difficulty grasping or manipulating objects, such as a mouse. A touch screen allows people with autism to navigate and interact with the computer by replacing mouse actions with a tap or touch on the screen.
Trackballs are another alternative for a mouse. Instead of having to grasp and drag a mouse across a mouse pad, trackballs use a stationary rolling ball to move the cursor around. This design gives people with autism greater control and helps them to position the cursor more accurately.
Keyboard Technology
A regular QWERTY keyboard with its small, numerous keys would be difficult for someone with limited fine motor control to manipulate. In addition, its layout can also be confusing for someone who is easily distracted and has poor organizational skills.
Some alternative keyboards that can be useful to people with autism make use of large, well-spaced, color-coded keys. The large keys are easier to press, and the colors help with easier identification. For example, some keyboards may have the consonants colored differently from vowels.
Programmable keyboards can also allow users to customize the location and function of keys to better suit their needs and abilities (University of Colorado Denver).
Visual Communication Technology
Most people with autism find using a standard word processor easier than handwriting. Some people benefit from word processors that have on-screen words or picture banks to help form their thoughts.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication
People with autism typically process visual information better than auditory information because it is easier for them to understand what you want to say if you use pictures, facial cues, hand gestures, and body language together with verbal instructions. Augmentative and alternative communication makes use of this visual learning style to help people with autism express themselves by using pictures, symbols, or drawings.
Computer-based communication tools are one of the most ideal augmentative and alternative communication systems. Symbols and pictures can be used along with sounds and synthetic speech to create a communication tool, which can be particularly useful for teaching children with autism.
Voice Output Communication Aids
Standalone communication devices or voice output communication aids (VOCAs) can be an alternative for computer-based communication tools. They are often easy to operate, such as pushing a button to activate pre-recorded messages tailored to their user. Each touchpad contains a visual representation in words, drawings, or photos that represent the content of each recording.
VOCAs can be used by people with autism to express their wants if they are verbally unable to do so. For instance, a picture of a glass would represent the VOCA user’s desire to drink. When pressed, the recorded message would say “I’m thirsty.” This lets other people know what they want without having to rely on grunts or gestures.
Further Resources: WeCoLearning
Want to learn more about accessibility? Our digital accessibility training portal includes courses crafted by highly trained and experienced professionals who actually live with disabilities. We offer courses such as:
- Understanding Users with Disabilities
- Web Accessibility Basics
- Understanding WCAG 2.1 A/AA
- And more!
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Further reading from WeCo’s Accessibility Blog about IT accessibility: