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• Understanding the Perspectives of Autistic Gamers through an Online Autistic Community and a Survey

  Sohyeon Park, Aehong Min, Anne Marie Piper, Gillian R. Hayes · 2026 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This study investigates the gaming experiences and preferences of autistic people using a multi-method approach that combines analysis of Reddit posts from an autism-focused subreddit with a survey of 145 autistic adults. The research addresses a significant gap: while video…

  autism · video games · gaming accessibility · cognitive accessibility · sensory processing

• Adaptive and Storytelling Practices of Panamanian Autism Families: Towards Culturally-Situated Digital Storytelling

  Elizabeth del Carmen Castillo, Debbie Alvarado Latino, Cecilia Aracelly Fonseca Sánchez, Annuska Zolyomi · 2026 · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (GROUP)

  This PACM HCI (GROUP) paper presents a formative, culturally-situated design study with eight Panamanian mothers of autistic individuals (ages 3–27) to understand the resource barriers autism families face in Panamá and the role storytelling plays in their daily lives. The…

  autism · neurodiversity · culture · Global South · storytelling

• Belonging in the Making: Investigating Inclusive Makerspace Design for Youth with Autism

  Krystal Yangmengzi Zhang, Marie Sakowicz, Emily Wingeart, Foad Hamidi · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Zhang, Sakowicz, Wingeart, and Hamidi investigate how makerspaces — the hands-on, technology-rich learning environments that have become common in libraries, schools, and community centres — can be designed to genuinely include youth with autism, rather than treating…

  technology-rich learning · accessibility · makerspaces · belonging · disability

• ATTENPlay: A Game-Based Attention Network Test for Autistic Children

  Yuying Wan, Xin Tong, Kaishun Wu · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper addresses a long-standing methodological problem in autism research: the Attention Network Test (ANT) — the standard computerized tool for measuring alerting, orienting, and executive-control attention networks — is abstract, repetitive, and built for…

  autism · autism spectrum disorder · attention network test · cognitive assessment · game-based assessment

• Navigating Financial Lives: How Autistic Adults Adapt Financial Technologies, Tools and Strategies

  Helena Lyhme, Belen Barros Pena, Stephanie Wilson · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper is, to the authors' knowledge, the first HCI study of how autistic adults navigate their financial lives — budgeting, banking, bill-paying, saving, managing unpredictability — using, adapting, and re-inventing financial technologies. The authors ground the…

  autism · neurodiversity · fintech · financial accessibility · moneywork

• "Chasing Shadows": Understanding Personal Data Externalization and Self-Tracking for Neurodivergent Individuals

  Tanya Rudberg Selin, Danielle Uneus, Soren Knudsen · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper examines a mismatch between the promises of self-tracking and personal informatics — rich self-awareness, reflection, insight — and the lived experience of neurodivergent individuals, for whom stable routines, generalised Likert items, and internal…

  self-tracking · personal informatics · neurodiversity · autism · ADHD

• Autiverse: Eliciting Autistic Adolescents' Daily Narratives through AI-guided Multimodal Journaling

  Migyeong Yang, Kyungah Lee, Jinyoung Han, SoHyun Park, Young-Ho Kim · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  Yang and colleagues present Autiverse, a tablet-based AI-guided multimodal journaling app for autistic adolescents with functional verbal abilities (formerly classified as Level 1 / high-functioning autism). The paper addresses a well-documented gap: although journaling is an…

  autism · adolescents · journaling · large language models · conversational agents

• Autistic Adults' Perspectives on Self-Expression and Dyadic vs. Group Interactions in AR Telepresence

  Mahrukh Tauseef, Alexandra Watkins, Zalen Ingram, Rendong Zhang, Akshith Ullal, Ritam Ghosh, Amy Sue Weitlauf, Zachary Warren, Nilanjan Sarkar · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates how autistic adults experience augmented reality (AR) telepresence as a medium for social interaction, a population whose needs are largely absent from existing avatar and social VR/AR research. Motivated by the high prevalence of social…

  autism · augmented reality · avatars · social presence · telepresence

• Lost in Translation: Understanding Autistic-Neurotypical Communication Style Differences in Job Postings

  Huining Feng, Zinat Ara, Andrew Hundt, Slobodan Vucetic, John Joon Young Chung, Sungsoo Ray Hong · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper investigates a concrete and consequential site of autistic-neurotypical (NT) communication mismatch: the written job posting. Autistic adults face an approximately 85% unemployment or underemployment rate (compared to 4% in the general US population), and…

  autism · autistic communication · communication style differences · autistic employment · double empathy problem

• Navigating Neurodivergence with AI Chatbots: Benefits, Tensions, and Implications for HCI

  Deepak Giri, Erin Brady, Megh Marathe · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 short paper presents a qualitative interview study of how neurodivergent adults use AI chatbots (primarily ChatGPT) in everyday life, and what tensions arise. The authors conducted 23 semi-structured, 50-minute Zoom interviews with participants recruited via…

  neurodivergence · AI chatbots · ADHD · autism · masking

• Tinged with Heartbreak: An Ethnographic Account of Navigating Autistic Loneliness and the Fragile Promise of AI Companionship

  Anna Hollis · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  This CHI 2026 paper is a reflexive ethnographic case study (n=1) of 'Andrea', a middle-aged autistic businesswoman in the Western world, and her six-month relationship with Xander, a Replika AI companion she ultimately lost to a corrupting software update. Anna Hollis, a…

  chatbot companions · autism · grief · technological instability · AI companionship

• Collaboration and Assistive Technology: Facilitating Joint Awareness for Noise Sensitivity

  Emani Hicks, Luc Rieffel, Ariya Gowda, Aehong Min, Gillian R Hayes · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)

  People with noise sensitivity (PWNS) - including those with misophonia, hyperacusis, and tinnitus, and overlapping strongly with the autistic community (estimated 45% prevalence) - experience everyday sounds as painful, distressing, or overwhelming. Existing supports are patchy:…

  noise sensitivity · misophonia · hyperacusis · sensory processing · autism

• Sona: Towards Context-Aware, Real-Time Personalization of Acoustic Environments for Noise Sensitivity

  Jeremy Zhengqi Huang, Emani Hicks, Sidharth, Gillian R Hayes, Dhruv Jain · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Huang and colleagues (University of Michigan and UC Irvine) reframe acoustic accessibility for people with noise sensitivity as selective, user-steerable soundscape mediation rather than wholesale noise cancellation. The authors argue that current commercial tools - active noise…

  noise sensitivity · misophonia · hyperacusis · autism · neurodivergence

• Beyond Prompt-Following: Empowering Social Agency in Autistic Children through Narrative Framing

  Min Zhou, Xinheng Song, Xiaolan Peng, Mingxuan Jin, Soumya C. Barathi · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  NarraSocial is a Unity-based virtual environment for autistic children aged 6–10 that reframes social-skills interventions away from the prompt-and-response loop characteristic of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and most VR-based social skills training. The authors observed…

  autism · autistic children · social agency · narrative design · virtual environment

• CollaDrum: Designing a Tangible Interactive Sonic System to Foster Collaboration in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

  Yinhan Gao, Yalong Luo, Wenwei Jiang, Wanling Cai, Yucheng Jin · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  CollaDrum is a co-designed tangible sonic system intended to scaffold task-based peer collaboration for autistic children in classroom settings, with explicit attention to not adding cognitive overhead from novel interaction paradigms. The authors interviewed five educators…

  autism · autistic children · tangible interfaces · classroom technology · collaboration

• Understanding Clinician Experiences with Game-Based Interventions for Autistic Children to Inform a Future Game Platform Focused on Improving Motor Skills

  Hunter M. Beach, Devin Jay D. San Nicolas, Carly Miller, Cathy Ly, Jared Duval · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’26)

  This CHI 2026 Extended Abstract reports a two-phase qualitative study with pediatric physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) to inform the design of AutMotion Studio, a speculative modular platform of motor-skill minigames for autistic children. Up to 87% of…

  autism · motor skills · serious games for health · pediatric therapy · physical therapy

• Demonstrating Consent Rings: Explicit Non-Verbal Consent Through Haptic Wearables as a Solution to Unwanted Sex Between Neurodivergent Partners

  Braeden Burger, Douglas Zytko · 2026 · Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '26)

  Consent Rings is a pair of symmetric haptic Bluetooth ring wearables developed by three neurodivergent researchers as an accessibility-oriented alternative to verbal 'yes means yes' affirmative consent. The authors situate the work in evidence that neurodivergent people - those…

  neurodivergence · autism · ADHD · consent technology · haptic wearables

17 results.