Inclusive technologies
Since 2011, our research group has supported student projects and conducted research with people with autism and/or intellectual disability. Our main partners so far have been Endeavour Foundation and Autism Queensland, with funding from the Australian Research Council, the CRC Autism, and the Endeavour Foundation Endowment Challenge Fund.
Each of our projects investigates:
- Innovative methods for Co-designing Technologies with people with intellectual disability and/or autism.
- Innovative mobile applications and tangible technologies to support well-being and social participation.
- Innovative intelligent interfaces to support access to information, and visuals for open communication.
Learn here how you can take part in our research to try and create new technologies.
Our large funded projects include:
- A Pictorial Communication Framework for Inclusion
- New Information Access Technologies for People with Intellectual Disability (concluded)
Other projects include:
- Co-Designing Multimodal Communication Experiences with People with Intellectual Disability, Their Peers and Social Robots
- Nature Apps – Social Gardening and Citizen Science by people with intellectual disability
- Virtual reality disability training: a technology comparison impact investigation (concluded)
- Co-designing with minimally-verbal children on the autism spectrum (concluded)
We are always looking for more students with skills in HCI and/or machine learning to join our team!
Approaches to Design and Research
Our research and design approaches are iterative and participatory. Participants’ voices are supported or enabled by interactions with prototypes throughout the co-design process.
Our approaches are centered on people’s competencies.
Chief Investigators
Other Team Members
PhD students
- Alicia Mitchell
- Mahesha Andradi
- Saminda Balasuriya
- Theja Kuruppu Arachchi
- Filip Bircanin
- Andy Bayor
- Cara Wilson (completed)
- Ravihansa Rajapaske (completed)
Master students
- Sara Muneeb
Other team members
- Michael Esteban
Partners
Publications
- Rajapakse, Saumya Ravihansa Bandara, Brereton, Margot, Sitbon, Laurianne (2021) A respectful design approach to facilitate codesign with people with cognitive or sensory impairments and makers CoDesign, 17 (2), pp.159-187.
- Sitbon, Laurianne, Brereton, Margot (2020) Co-design to include users with intellectual disability in information interaction research CHIIR '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval, CHIIR 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval, pp.481–483.
- Balasuriya, Saminda Sundeepa, Sitbon, Laurianne, Brereton, Margot, Koplick, Stewart (2019) How can social robots spark collaboration and engagement among people with intellectual disability? OZCHI'19: Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, pp.209-220.
- Wilson, Cara, Brereton, Margot, Ploderer, Bernd, Sitbon, Laurianne, Cox, A, Kostakos, V (2019) Co-design beyond words: 'Moments of interaction' with minimally-verbal children on the autism spectrum CHI 2019 - Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, pp.1-15.
- Bayor, Andrew Azaabanye, Sitbon, Laurianne, Ploderer, Bernd, Bircanin, Filip, Brereton, Margot, Cox, A, Kostakos, V (2019) 'TechShops': Engaging young adults with intellectual disability in exploratory design research Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.1-8.
- Farhin, Shanjana, Sitbon, Laurianne, Brereton, Margot, Choi, J H J, McKay, D, Kelly, R, Waycott, J, Lugmayr, A, Morrison, A, Buchanan, G, et al. (2018) Insights from people with ID on a transport application Proceedings of the 30th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (OzCHI 2018), pp.123-127.
- Sitbon, Laurianne, Cox, A, Perry, M (2018) Engaging IT students in co-design with people with intellectual disability Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.1-6.
- Rajapakse, Saumya Ravihansa Bandara, Brereton, Margot, Sitbon, Laurianne, Chow, K, odom, W, Cerratto-Pargman, T (2018) Design artefacts to support people with a disability to build personal infrastructures Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference, pp.277-288.
- Sitbon, Laurianne, Hoogstrate, Maria, Yule, Julie, Koplick, Stewart, Bircanin, Filip, Brereton, Margot, Choi, J H J, McKay, D, Kelly, R, Waycott, J, et al. (2018) A non-clinical approach to describing participants with intellectual disability Proceedings of the 30th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (OzCHI 2018), pp.128-132.
- Wilson, Cara, Brereton, Margot, Ploderer, Bernd, Sitbon, Laurianne, Saggers, Beth, Morris, M R, Findlater, L (2017) Digital strategies for supporting strengths- and interests-based learning with children with autism Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp.52-61.
- Sitbon, Laurianne, Farhin, Shanjana, Soro, A, Vyas, D, Waycott, J, Ploderer, B, Morrison, A, Brereton, M (2017) Co-designing interactive applications with adults with intellectual disability: a case study Proceedings of the 29th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI 2017), pp.487-491.
- Wilson, Cara, Sitbon, Laurianne, Brereton, Margot, Johnson, Daniel, Koplick, Stewart, Parker, C (2016) 'Put yourself in the picture': designing for futures with young adults with intellectual disability Proceedings of the 28th Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction, pp.271-281.
- Rajapakse, Saumya Ravihansa Bandara, Brereton, Margot, Sitbon, Laurianne, Roe, Paul, Gibbs, M, Smith, W, Carter, M, Vetere, F, Ploderer, B (2015) A collaborative approach to design individualized technologies with people with a disability Proceedings of the 27th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI 2015), pp.29-33.
- Brereton, Margot, Sitbon, Laurianne, Abdullah, Muhammad Haziq Lim, Vanderberg, Mark, Koplick, Stewart (2015) Design after design to bridge between people living with cognitive or sensory impairments, their friends and proxies CoDesign, 11 (1), pp.4-20.
- Rajapakse, Saumya Ravihansa Bandara, Brereton, Margot, Roe, Paul, Sitbon, Laurianne, Loke, L, Leong, T, O'Hara, K, Wadley, G, Robertson, T (2014) Designing with people with disabilities: adapting best practices of DIY and organizational approaches Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures: the Future of Design, pp.519-522.