Social Anxiety

Social anxiety (social anxiety disorder, SAD) is a mental-health condition characterised by persistent and intense fear of being judged, rejected or humiliated in social or performance situations, leading to avoidance of interactions that most people experience as routine. It is common in the general population and particularly prevalent among autistic and ADHD adults, where it often compounds accessibility barriers such as difficulty initiating communication, participating in meetings, or using voice-based technologies. Digital-accessibility design that lowers social-exposure cost - asynchronous communication, text alternatives to voice or video, private rehearsal spaces, and AI assistants for drafting messages - is frequently used by people with social anxiety.