Team: Manali Panchal/ Svaney Shen/ Zhaolu Song
Brief: Design a friendly museum experience for children with ASD.
Time: November
Final Week
We are very excited to be in our final week! In this week, we will take our final outcome, FlexiKit, to Science Museum and will conduct testing with kids and their families.
FlexiKit. Photo by me.
Real Scenario Validation
We chose a quiet place near the entrance to the Science Museum to test it since the toolkit is designed for the pre-visit stage. With ethical considerations, we have not mentioned that it is designed for children with ASD, but for all children of neurodiversity.
There were 12 children in total who took part in the test, 9 of whom were normal children (age 6-12) and 3 is children with mild ASD (age 3-7). FlexiKit was tested without any guidance in advance. Children were invited to play with it freely but can be given appropriate guidance if they need any help. All children gave their own or their parent's consent to be observed at the time of testing.
User Testing with Interactive Sensory Map at the Science Museum. Photo by me.
User Testing with Interactive Cards at the Science Museum. Photo by me.
User Testing with VR glasses at the Science Museum. Photo by me.
User Testing with Interactive cards at the Science Museum. Video by me.
User Testing with VR glasses at the Science Museum. Video by me.
Outcome
The overall feedback was positive. Children were very interested in this toolkit, and they would like to spend lots of time interacting with it. I noticed that children are very interested in it, and they can play it quite well even without any guidance. For elder kids (age 7-12), they showed a strong interest in VR and they can interact with the cards, VR glasses themselves. During the conversation, they told us that they like the illustration and could easily understand which area the illustrations represent and could point out the one they went to. For younger kids (age 3-6), they need some help from their parents to understand how to interact with the cards and map but they can easily play with it as well.
A kid interacting with Sensory Interactive Map under parent's help. Video by me.
Apart from the children, we also received good feedback from their parents, They said it not only helps them to be able to plan, but it is also a great way to interact with their children.
Discussion
Individuals with ASD sense and process information differently compared to neurotypical people due to sensory integration deficits (Gaines et al., 2016), but we are all the same people of neurodiversity. Museums, as a public place, have the responsibility to create inclusive environments for neurodiverse people. Although museums have made great progress in improving accessibility, most of the improvements have been in response to physical disabilities. However, not all disabilities are visible and there is still a lot of room for improvement.
FlexiKit was designed for all neurodiverse children and helps those with ASD to mentally prepare and make plans before visiting museums. I would see it as an experimental design and an insight to explore the future definition of inclusive design for society. It should be used by neurodiverse children without discrimination. The key was designing for neurodiverse people rather than children with ASD to make sure those on the spectrum can feel no different.
This toolkit also has some limitations and room for improvement. From an ethical point of view, it would be unfair for those families to purchase this toolkit just because their children are on the spectrum. It should be an optional choice for all neurodiverse people, for example, it can be rented free of charge in the museum, or be open for use at the entrance to the museum. Furthermore, as it is difficult to invite children with ASD to museums for testing during COVID, this toolkit still needs to be tested in the future with a wider range of users.
In conclusion, the toolkit benefits children with mild ASD to have better mental preparation before visiting museums and can be used by all neurodiverse groups. The final outcome and the research methods used provided an insight for the design of neurodiversity. I believe inclusive design is much more than just accessibility, it should target all neurodiverse users and create an experience where users can feel like they belong and are treated without distinction. In the end, I want to end this paper with a quote from Jonah Lehrer – “For too long, we’ve assumed that there is a single template for human nature, which is why we diagnose most deviations as disorders. But the reality is that there are many different kinds of minds. And that is a very good thing.”.
In the End
The Final Major Project finished more than I could have expected. I would like to sincerely thank my lovely and competent teammates: Manali and Svaney. During the whole journey, they really helped me a lot and provided so many creative ideas. I am so lucky and happy to work with them.
Graduate Showcase. Photo by Ines.
Besides, I also want to thank to who helped us during the process. Without the support of any one of them, we could not have gotten this far.
Gabby Patrick, Nikisha Kotwal, Steph Singer, Emma Tutton, Anonymous people (All the people who joined our tests), John Fass, Alastair, Tiffany, Wan, Grey, Elle, All my lovely classmates, etc.
Again, I appreciate everyone’s help. It is the end of my MA UX journey, but it is not a BYE to my lovely tutors and classmates. I will meet you again soon and I am ready to face the next challenge!
Reference
Gaines, K. et al. (2016) Designing for Autism Spectrum Disorders. New York: Routledge.
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