I’ve been really lucky to have been the project manager of Australia’s most downloaded sports app, AFL Live. I had just moved to Melbourne and it was my first role in the app space rather than generic software development.
When you get to work with product owners and get to observe how users are interacting live with an app inside and outside of a sports environment you get a really good insight of why people use apps and how some features are really helpful and others, not so much.
I had an idea a couple of years ago and created design concepts of how individuals diagnosed with Autism could get more support after school years to have quick access to therapists or coping techniques for those days where days feel too overwhelming when out and about.
With my life changing, taking on more responsibilities and a higher up focus than hands on in the detail I will not be at a detailed level of how these apps could work. That said I really want to list some challenges that Autistic people face in hope that somebody reading this post really wants to take on a challenge and help others, the way I want to.
Below are a list of challenges followed by a list of high level app ideas to give others inspiration!
Challenges
- Support after school years – From what I’ve observed during my Dyslexia assessment and family history of Autism there is a huge gap after a child leaves school age. I’m in the UK so I’m referring to the age of 16+, depending or not whether a child decides to stay on for sixth form or go to college. There doesn’t seem to be as much support as at that age a child is expected to know what their next step is but without the extra help they’ve had at school. As a result this causes anxiety for children/young adults when trying to focus on a specialised subject area and a risk of them not passing as they’ve had reduced support.
- Family dynamics and environments – Our family did not know much about Autism when my sister was diagnosed, leading families to educate schools on how best to support their child when they do not fully know themselves. When you have a child with Autism I personally feel they need more emotional support as they aren’t always able to freely express their needs or struggle to feel their emotions openly and comfortably based on their parents parenting styles.
- Access to different learning styles – I personally can’t comment now on how schools support this but I do know from my own experience exams and typical education is not ‘Dyslexia friendly’ and there are definitely overlapping learning styles between Dyslexia and Autism. I am a very visual learner and the classic ‘Please could you take turns to read a book out loud’ is actually every Dyslexic’s worst nightmare. I have this very ‘special’ skill where I actually read the next letter of the word after what I’m about to say, it’s very unusual but it’s probably where my brain is already ahead of my speech. Bit of a qwerk, cute. Perhaps that needs to go in the fun fact list.
- Awareness of therapy – I’m unsure if this is an awareness or education issue but in the UK from my own experience therapy isn’t widely promoted than much unless ‘somebody has issues’ which is a terrible way to look at therapy. Why should you go to therapy when you have an issue when you could go and prevent it from becoming a much bigger issue. Preventative therapy needs to be encouraged and supported in schools from a much younger age. Especially if parents have a negative view on therapy of ‘people trying to tell them what to do’ it’s not that in the slightest. They are helping your child get the best possible outcome for themselves and sometimes its better a stranger providing support than somebody they know.
With the above said I’ve listed some app ideas that would really help those with Autism and to be honest… everyone who also do not have Autism too!
Autism App Ideas
- Access to an on-demand therapist, if not available could you use an AI well trained model to provide this? Knowing it would need to be really carefully monitored.
- Free meditation techniques – Practising mindfulness can be beneficial for slowing down, understanding your emotions and helping you feel relaxed. I personally would love to see somebody partner with Headspace to help those specifically with Autistic challenges or the option in Headspace to personalise your experience based on your own individual needs. An NHS and Headspace collaboration in the UK would be very powerful, based on patient data.
- Creative hobbies – Drawing can be a really calming, focused task that allows individuals to take time out and provide a calm space when experiencing stressful or difficult times.
- Career Support – this is such a big area and it impact is huge. Career support for Autistic and again (everyone) during 16 – 18 on what they want to do with their life goals is such a big gap. Children are influenced so much by their parents, if their parents have views on ‘earning as much money as possible’ rather than aligning to a child’s skillset, personality and family values, lots of children and young adults will study subjects and go into careers they do not find fulfilling and lead to huge amount of life dissatisfaction
I hope you found these useful and create a spark of imagination of how you can help others by building apps, software or resources that align to these challenges or even others that aren’t listed here! Comment and share your ideas to help inspire others!
🙂