In recent work, design researchers have sought to ensure that people with disabilities are engaged as competent and valued contributors to co-design. Yet, little is known about how to achieve this with adults with severe intellectual disabilities. Navigating design in the context of complex care practices is challenging, charged with uncertainty, and requires sustained effort of methodological and affective adjustments. To establish a respectful co-design relationship and enrich participation, we turn to Active Support (AS), an evidence-based strategy for engaging adults with severe intellectual disabilities. We present a reflective account of long-term field work that utilized the four aspects of AS, a) every moment has potential; b) graded assistance; c) little and often; d) maximizing choice and control. We discuss how these principles contribute to deepening HCI methods by ensuring interactional turns for adults with severe disabilities, revealing their unique competences, thereby shaping design direction and providing design insight.

In this paper, we present a case study of the iterative design of TalkingBox, a communication device designed with a person with a severe cognitive disability and his support network. TalkingBox combines graphic symbols with tangible technology to foster the use of symbolic communication by leveraging the person's strength and interest in memory matching games. In the course of designing, trialing and iterating the TalkingBox, we discovered that the design supported not only the development of symbolic communication, but also revealed new interests and strengths of our participant. TalkingBox highlighted opportunities for interactions with peers, revealed new skills in visual discrimination, and evidenced interests. These could, in turn, support staff and family to adapt their support. More importantly, TalkingBox had become a living portfolio presenting our participant with severe disability through the lens of their strengths. We discuss opportunities for research through co-design to open new avenues for future communication technologies.

Online videos are a medium of choice for young adults to access or receive information, and recent work has highlighted that it is a particularly effective medium for adults with intellectual disability, by its visual nature. Reflecting on a case study presenting fieldwork observations of how adults with intellectual disability engage with videos on the Youtube platform, we propose a framework to define and evaluate the accessibility of such large video repositories, from an informational perspective. The proposed framework nuances the concept of information accessibility from that of the accessibility of information access interfaces themselves (generally catered for under web accessibility guidelines), or that of the documents (generally covered in general accessibility guidelines). It also includes a notion of search (or browsing) accessibility, which reflects the ability to reach the document containing the information. In the context of large information repositories, this concept goes beyond how the documents are organized into how automated processes (browsing or searching) can support users. In addition to the framework we also detail specifics of document accessibility for videos. The framework suggests a multi-dimensional approach to information accessibility evaluation which includes both cognitive and sensory aspects. This framework can serve as a basis for practitioners when designing video information repositories accessible to people with intellectual disability, and extends on the information presentation guidelines such as suggested by the WCAG.

Towards supporting an expressed interest of young adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) and their proxies to develop their social participation skills, this research investigated and co-designed the HowToApp (Fig 1), an app that queries and present young adults YouTube videos of their skills development interests on an accessible User Interface (UI). The app's design adapted social media design features and icons as a mechanism of leveraging the competencies and skills participants have developed from using them. Findings show that participants associated functional familiarity with the app's social media-inspired design icons and features, such as sharing, which fostered usability and mediated engagement between participants and their networks. Based on the findings, this paper reflects on a competency-based design approach that leverages the existing technology participation competencies and skills of people with ID in designing to support self-determination.

Young adults with intellectual disability are keen users of social media. However, there is little understanding about how their skills and participation in social media might be leveraged to support further skills development. Employing a participatory approach through workshops with eleven participants and interviews with eight parents, we investigated what skills young adults desire and how they might be able to leverage their participation in YouTube and Facebook to develop these skills. We found that young adults want to develop social skills of such as playing sports or learning languages, but that leveraging social media participation to do this goes beyond their typical use, and requires both collaborative support and accessible design. Based on these findings, we propose and discuss a collaboration-in-the-loop framework that integrates support through personal networks and an accessible user interface design. We conclude with a reflection on designing to leverage participation, interests and competencies to support people with intellectual disability.

Traditional usability methods are of limited use when evaluating systems designed for distant, diverse populations. In this paper, we describe a study conducted in two Ghanaian villages that evaluated an audio computer designed for people living in oral cultures. Informed by ICTD and orality-grounded HCID, we modified existing usability testing practices and we reflect on the utility of these adaptations. We found that conducting a culturally appropriate study often meant forgoing more traditional approaches in favor of flexible, opportunistic methods. We acknowledge the challenges of adapting traditional usability methods for oral, rural users. However, we found that by implementing strategic modifications led by local staff, our study produced valuable, actionable results.

Technology projects are finding ways to provide information to people living in rural poverty. However, using information to affect health or farming practices requires overcoming unique challenges including illiteracy and lack of electricity. We examine the effects of a low-cost audio computer ("Talking Book")--a battery-powered, durable, handheld device that enables users to create and listen to recordings and copy recordings between devices-for improving learning opportunities and knowledge sharing in such environments. In northern Ghana, we studied the impact of giving rural, illiterate people on-demand access to guidance created by local experts. Our evaluation suggests that Talking Books can make a significant impact on learning and behavior change in villages with low literacy rates and no electricity.