Main challenges in applying mainstream mobile technologies to meet the needs of people who have autism or cognitive disabilities: – multitasking can be overwhelming, confusing and disturbing. – Applications are not descriptive enough; it is hard to navigate a phone or an application. – The phone can be too loud or bright. The screen colors can be inadequate. -There are a lot of types and a lot of degrees in autism and cognitive disabilities so designing technologies to help them might be tricky as you’d need to design something specifically for each degree. -A technology designed for disabled people might be expensive for them to get it in the first place.
Benefits of making mainstream mobile tech accessible for people with autism or cognitive disabilities: a- Immersing them into the world + a sense of belonging in society since they’ll get to interact with people, catch up with the news, trends, and internet drama … etc / b- Sense of responsibility and independence since they would be using the applications by and for themselves. / c- Can use them both for research and for a hiding space through online support groups for example.
Technologies can help overcome stigma and discrimination for people with autism and cognitive disabilities by spreading awareness about these issues or through internet movements preaching disabled people’s rights. It can also be used to defend them in case of injustice or even to shed light on situations that do not benefit them.