Grand Challenges: Fostering Inclusivity through Technology (FIT)

Summary:

Autistic people experience sensory and social information differently from neurotypical people, and this leads to frequent miscommunications and discrimination in majority-neurotypical workplaces. If the precise causes and consequences of autistic-neurotypical misalignments in workplace conversations can be better understood, a new opportunity can be unlocked: to create augmented spaces for communication that negotiate differences and bridge gaps in neurodiverse workplaces. The Fostering Inclusivity through Technology (FIT) is a video-calling platform that promotes mutual understanding by highlighting team sentiment, building rapport with strangers, connecting past and current topics in conversations, and unobtrusively identifying and resolving misunderstandings. The research brings together autistic people, social scientists, technologists, and stakeholders in industry, policy, and advocacy to describe communication needs in workplaces, understand real-time communication dynamics in single- and mixed-neurotype interactions, and develop efficacy and ethical criteria for technology to support autistic-neurotypical communication.

Team Members: