 
AUTISM an invisible illness.
With 1% of the world population affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD has become the fastest growing developmental disability.
 
FACTS
what Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges.
who ASD occurs in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, but is about 4 times more common among boys than among girls.
how There is currently no cure for ASD. However, early intervention treatment services can improve a child’s development.
why We do not know all of the causes of ASD. However, we have learned that there are likely many causes for multiple types of ASD. There may be many different factors that make a child more likely to have an ASD, including environmental, biologic and genetic factors.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/facts.html
 
STATISTICS
About 1% of the world population has autism spectrum disorder
27% of people believe that autism only affects children 60% of adults with autism rely on their families for financial support 85% of adults with autism are not in full-time paid employment Adult autism services cost U.S. citizens $175-196 billion
$2.4 million is the estimated lifespan cost for a person with autism
https://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/major_findings_final_web.pdf


QUESTION
How do we design for something we cannot feel?
 
LITERATURE REVIEW
Epidemiology of ASD in adults in England
 (Brugha T.S. et al., 2011)
objective
To estimate the prevalence and characteristics of adults with ASD living in England.
method
A stratified, multiphase random sample was used in the third national survey of psychiatric morbidity in adults in England in 2007. Survey data were weighted to take account of study design and nonresponse so that the results were representative of the household population.
results
Of 7461 adult participants who provided a complete phase 1 interview, 618 completed phase 2 diagnostic assessments. The weighted prevalence of ASD in adults was estimated to be 9.8 per 1000. Prevalence was not related to the respondent's age. Rates were higher in men, those without educational qualifications, and those living in rented social housing.
 
LITERATURE REVIEW
Costs of ASD in the UK and US
 (Buescher et al., 2014)
objective To update estimates of age-specific, direct, indirect, and lifetime societal economic costs, including new findings on indirect costs, such as individual and parental productivity costs, associated with ASDs.
method
A literature review was conducted of US and UK studies on individuals with ASDs using the following keywords: age, autism spectrum disorder, prevalence, accommodation, special education, productivity loss, employment, costs, and economics. Current data on prevalence, level of functioning, and place of residence were combined with mean annual costs of services and support, opportunity costs, and productivity losses of individuals with ASDs with or without intellectual disability.
results
The cost of supporting an individual with an ASD and intellectual disability during his or her lifespan was $2.4 million in the US and $2.2 million in the UK. The cost of supporting an individual with an ASD without intellectual disability was $1.4 million in the US and $1.4 million in the UK.
 
TRENDS
autism in adulthood
A half million youths with ASD will become adults in the United States over the next decade and there is a global unmet need for dissemination of data pertaining to adults on the autism spectrum, with most research having been focused on the paediatric population.
larger disconnect
There is virtually no current substantive national discussion on the fate of middle-aged or elderly autistic people who are living in therapeutic communities, or with their aged parents or in group homes, or sometimes undiagnosed in mental hospitals. Little research money is spent on members of this demographic, and there is almost no public policy debate on how best to serve them. Not much is known of the particular health problems linked to their longterm care, or how their autism progresses and changes over time, or what the cumulative effects might be of the medication they take to render them tractable enough to live in social settings.
INTERVIEWS
Rose
“Sensory overload feels like you are drowning, blind, banging your head against a brick wall and in a sauna − all at the same time. I am so sensitive and it’s horrible.”
Bill
“I recently took an exam and I went blank because there was a fire alarm going off nearby on repeat and the sound of someone breathing loudly. It completely drowns me. I can’t even begin to explain how much it affects me.”
Meg
“If I can wear my headphones and blast music through my ears in the gym, down the street, on the bus. I can cope. But I can’t do that whilst I concentrate because I cannot read or type with music in my ears. It’s horrible!”
Clare
“I am affected by light too. Too much blinds me and I get overwhelmed. Too little and I am a mess. If someone tries to show me a picture on their phone and their brightness is turned down it makes me frown. I need a lot of light to focus and no light to sleep.”
https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/tmi/stories/sensory.aspx
 
ANALYSIS
sensory disorder
Many people on the autism spectrum have difficulty processing everyday sensory information. Any of the senses may be over- or under-sensitive, or both, at different times. These sensory differences can affect behaviour, and can have a profound effect on a person’s life.
social difficulties
Many adults on the spectrum find it difficult to tolerate social situations. Meeting a new person can be overwhelming - a different voice, a different smell and a different visual stimulus - meaning that difficulties with social relationships are not due to just communication, but are about the total sensory processing experience.
understanding the world
Making sense of the world is what most adults convey as the most frustrating area they struggled with as children, and was directly related to their sensory processing challenges, and that impacted every aspect of their lives: relationships, communication, selfawareness, safety and so on.
 
DEVELOPMENT
discrete glasses
For many, using wearable technology like an Apple Watch or a Fitbit is a little luxury which provides extra convenience when doing exercise or daily tasks. But that only scrapes the surface of what wearable devices have the potential to achieve. Personalized wearable digital technology can help adults diagnosed with autism understand and manage their anxiety — without standing out from the crowd.
wearable technology Technology-aided approaches help improve everything from communication challenges and social interactions to the behavioural challenges and anxieties often associated with ASD.
Technological aids are a particularly hopeful path, since many adults and children with autism have a natural affinity toward technology and tend to relate better to objects than to people.
 
DEVELOPMENT
SIGHT Autism impacts the way people see. Seeing that they must interact with the world with a functionally impaired vision, it is easy to understand why we often come across people with autism having trouble making eye contact or keeping focused. Fatigue, disorientation, and frustration are common symptoms in these individuals.
dynamic tinting
 for light sensitivity In comparison to photochromic glasses, that adjust the tint depending on the UV-light, an adjustable tint can be used when an individual with autism is overstimulated by light. The adjustable tint functionality is made possible with liquid crystal technology, with a low voltage applied to the filter defining the amount of light that is passed through it.
http://skuggaeyewear.com/
DEVELOPMENT
SOUND Individuals with autism are unable to block out sound in the way most people can when they want to focus on something. They can easily become overstimulated, hearing every noise and sound coming from their surroundings. Being in a crowded place, let alone communicating, becomes a challenging situation.
usually
ambient white noise through bone conduction Bone conduction allows you to hear sound through the vibration of the bones of your face, via jaw bones and cheek bones. This means that the sound waves are bypassing the outer and middle ear, where the eardrum is located, and directly stimulating the inner ear. Since the headset sits behind, and not in the ear, bone conduction allows user’s with autism to retain full awareness of ambient sounds, while also enabling the ability to transmit white noise, to filter out background sound.
bone conduction
https://www.enjoyvue.com/
SPECTRE
for an invisible illness.
dynamic tinting + bone conduction = a discrete solution