City Research Online

Abstract

This toolkit offers practical support to any third and public sector professional who wants to adapt their use of digital platforms.

You don’t need to have design or programming skills to be able to use this toolkit. The recommendations offered in this toolkit don’t ask you to re-design digital platforms from scratch, but rather provide support on how to manage the content which populates your online platforms, and to provide appropriate level of guidance to users.

For those who do have the skills to design digital platforms or have a team of designers at disposition, we offer a separate toolkit specific to these needs, which you can find at www.autisticadultsonline.com/toolkits.

The tips offered in this guide are not just for platforms that are meant to be used exclusively with autistic users, but are applicable to any website, social media, and online group which may include autistic users.

Autism is largely underdiagnosed, and if you are using digital platforms with a public audience, chances are there will be neurodivergent people accessing your platforms. The adjustments recommended in this toolkit will improve the user experience of your audience as a whole.

Digital platforms are in constant evolution. Providing platform-specific instructions, for instance how to set up a Facebook group, would have condemned this toolkit to a short lifespan. Instead, we focused on concepts and approaches that can be applied to any platform you are working with (websites, social media platforms, online groups, forums, online courses).

Chapter 1 presents general guidelines on how platforms can be improved to better support autistic users. This information can be useful to readers who are already familiar with accessibility standards and would like to understand how to adapt these to better support autistic users.

Chapter 2, 3, 4, and 5 present practical suggestions co-created with autistic users to address four specific challenges (first-time access, sensory overload, moderation, and guidance) which can be readily applied by anyone who manages online platforms.

Publication Type:	Report
Additional Information:	© 2023 Author | Owner. This work is licensed under the creative commons attribution, noncommercial, no derivatives 3.0 unported license.
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
Departments:	School of Science & Technology School of Science & Technology > Department of Computer Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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