Establishing a Serious Game on Relationship Boundaries for People with Developmental Disabilities
Samantha Conde · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020) · doi:10.1145/3373625.3417079
Summary
This short paper presents "Boundaries," a serious game designed to help adults with developmental disabilities explore and discuss personal relationship boundaries — a topic motivated by alarming statistics on sexual violence against this population. People with developmental disabilities (PDDs) are sexually assaulted up to 10 times more than people without disabilities, with 97% of assailants being trusted individuals such as caretakers (44%) and family members (32%). Despite this, sexual education resources for PDDs are virtually nonexistent, and PDDs are often perceived as asexual by the general public. The game, developed in Unity 3D in collaboration with Mad Hatter Wellness (a sexuality education organization), uses a slot-machine metaphor where players pull a lever to randomly generate scenarios composed of "Who," "What," and "Where" components (e.g., "my co-worker / gives me a high five / in private"). Players then decide whether the scenario is "Okay" or "Not Okay." Crucially, there are no right or wrong answers — the game is designed as a conversation starter for use with behavioral therapists, not as an assessment tool. A risk score calculated from U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics helps therapists identify risky patterns, but does not judge the player. The game includes video tutorials and text-to-speech for accessibility.
Key findings
Ten participants with developmental disabilities (5 male, 5 female, ages 20-35) tested the game at the University of California Santa Cruz, recruited through a Hope Services Day-Center partnership. The study also incorporated a Muse 2 brain-sensing headband to capture physiological data during gameplay. Post-gameplay surveys found that users agreed on the scenarios' relatability and found the game accommodating for discussing personal boundaries. Many wanted to play again and requested home access. Users who were more aware of boundary violations found the game less challenging and considered scenarios with greater caution. Conversely, users who were more likely to agree to boundary-violating scenarios found the game more challenging but still reported understanding personal boundaries. The gameplay data logging captured different habits and perceptions autonomously, providing behavioral therapists with rich data about individual comprehension of relationship boundaries without direct interrogation. Participants requested future versions with characters, animations, and more visual elements.
Relevance
This paper addresses a critically underserved area at the intersection of accessibility and safeguarding: sexual education and boundary awareness for people with developmental disabilities. The gamification approach is significant because it makes a sensitive, often taboo topic approachable through play rather than direct instruction, and the no-right-or-wrong-answer design avoids the patronizing or judgmental dynamics that can undermine trust. For accessibility practitioners, the study demonstrates how serious games can serve as both educational tools and data-gathering instruments — the gameplay itself produces behavioral insights useful for therapeutic intervention. The risk score mechanism shows how game analytics can be designed to support professional decision-making without labeling players. Limitations include the very small sample (N=10), the short paper format (3 pages) which limits methodological detail, the lack of longitudinal follow-up on whether boundary awareness actually improved, and the absence of a control group.
Tags: developmental disability · serious games · safeguarding · sexuality · cognitive accessibility · social cognition · game accessibility · education