Designing Sensory and Social Tools for Neurodivergent Individuals in Social Media Environments

Abstract

Sensory guides and social narratives are learning tools that provide sensory and social support to neurodivergent individuals. These tools- A nd their design guidelines-have historically been developed for physical environments, such as museums and classrooms. They lack support for social media environments, where sensory stimuli and social contexts can be complex and uncertain. We address these challenges by designing a novel social media sensory guide and social narrative, specifically adapted for social media interaction. We leverage our use case, Twitter Spaces- A n audio-only conversation feature in beta. The goal of this pilot study is to determine whether neurodivergent users want sensory guides and social narratives adapted for social media, and if users find them helpful in setting expectations for social media interaction. We evaluate these tools with eight neurodivergent Twitter users, using tasks and thinking aloud. Results indicate a strong potential for adoption of both tools among neurodivergent individuals to reduce overstimulation in social media environments.