Team: Manali Panchal/ Svaney Shen/ Zhaolu Song
Brief: Design an Autistic children-friendly museum experience of the Science Museum.
Time: September
Instead of reaching out to children with ASD first, we all agreed that it is better to start from the people around them. After going through lots of difficulties, fortunately, we got contact with four people who are familiar with individuals with ASD, Gabby Patrick who is a mother of a child with ASD, Nikisha Kotwal who is the communication coordinator and the teacher at Gateway School for children with ASD, Steph Singer who is a designer with a lot of work experience with people with ASD, and Emma Tutton who is the Access & Inclusion Programmes Manager of British Library.
Interview with a parent of a child with mild ASD
We reached out to Gabby, who is a mom of a three-year-old son with mild ASD (high functioning autism). Gabby told us that her son’s brain has a certain capacity and once it is full, he starts to have a meltdown, like flapping hands, flicking ears, rolling eyes back. They always need to consider his capacity to make a detailed plan every day.
When talking about her experience taking her son to public spaces, Gabby told us that it is always difficult and they need to prepare a lot of things before going, for example, making a very detailed plan for that day, bringing sim cards which can help her to locate her son and bringing his familiar things, like the same toys, bottles, and snacks.
Interview with Gabby.
Besides, she found it is hard to deal with the saturation point of her son in the public. There was once they went to a restaurant with a lot of preparation but ended up they have to go home because her son had a meltdown by the noise and his behaviors made the people around them feel uncomfortable. She hopes there could be a recharging place for her son so he can calm down and they don’t need to go all the way home.
Interview with a special school teacher + Class observation
Interview with Nikisha.
We had a nice talk with Nikisha who the communication coordinator and the teacher at Gate School, a special school for students with ASD in Mumbai. She suggested we think about Universal design learning for all neurodiverse people. Besides, she offered us chances to observe the students’ behaviors through zoom. This participant observation has been agreed by the school, the teachers and the students being observed.
Class observation. Teachers are typing each student's answer on slides.
(All students' names and pictures are protected)
In the class we observed, I noticed that there are students who have totally different presentations of autism, for example, some have high verbal function ability whereas some have very low verbal function ability, some can’t focus on the class and keep moving around, holding things whereas some sit quietly all the time. So, what is interesting for us to think about museum experience for children with ASD is how to design for the people of this spectrum.
Interview with a designer
Interview with Steph.
To get more insights, we reached out to Steph Singer who is an experienced designer with individuals with ASD. We discussed the whole experience of visiting the museum that we might design, she suggested that think about playful learning-related design and try to use co-creation as a way of socializing.
Interview with an Access & Inclusion Programmes Manager of Public Institution
Earlier, we went to an early opening event for families with special needs at the British Library. However, due to restrictions, we were not allowed to observe these families for academic purposes. Emma Tutton, the Access & Inclusion Programmes Manager of British Library, offered us the opportunity to conduct an online interview with her. In the talk, we learned about the special events they are holding and the preparation they did.
Relaced Early Opening for Families - Paddington: The Story of a Bear. Photo by me.
Interview with Emma Tutton.
The Paddington: The Story of a Bear exhibition has a relaxed early opening event every three months, and families with special needs can book tickets in advance. The British Library won’t open to the public during the early opening hours and will adjust all the lights, hand dryers, etc., to create a calm and quiet environment (British Library, 2021). Before they actually go there, the families will receive an email with a visual story explaining how they will go to the exhibition and what will happen inside. From her, we learned how important preparation is for these families.
In Summary
Through all these helpful talks, we had a deeper understanding of children with ASD and got many insights.
The brains of children with ASD have a certain capacity. Once it is full, they will have a meltdown. This means that they need to have a detailed plan to limit the number of things that will happen and detailed preparation for getting familiar with the new environment.
Caregivers are crucial for children with ASD. Without the help of caregivers, it is very dangerous for autistic children to live alone. We hence redefined our target users: children with mild ASD and their families.
Public places need to provide recharging places for individuals with ASD so that they can calm down when they reach the saturation point.
Designing for the people of this spectrum. Individuals on the spectrum are all different, we need to figure a universal design to cater to all neurodiverse groups.
In the next, we will make our ideations and start making some prototypes. At the same time, we will keep trying to reach out to families with children with ASD.
References
British Museum (2021) Relaxed Early Opening for Families - Paddington: The Story of a Bear. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/events/relaxed-early-opening-of-paddington (Accessed: 27th Sept. 2021).
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