The Pictorial is Neurodivergent
A Case for More Fidgets and Fewer Fixes
This pictorial presents a case for designers of interactive systems to focus on supporting self-determined behaviors instead of aiming to “fix” behaviors deemed abnormal or problematic by society. It proposes a decision map to help determine whether it is ethical or appropriate to design a product or system for behavior intervention. Through the lens of neurodiversity, this work considers how designs for behavior intervention often mirror techniques utilized in behavioral therapies aimed at preserving neurotypical social expectations at the expense of individual autonomy. This pictorial also examines devices used for behavior intervention through photographs of existing products and technologies that support self-stimulatory behaviors (stimming). It utilizes a fictional narrative with digital illustrations and AI-generated imagery to explore the impact of an imagined technology designed to modify the behavior of neurodivergent individuals. “Fidgets” are presented as a product exemplar that supports and celebrates self-determined, intuitive behaviors rather than suppressing or modifying behaviors to conform to social norms.
Full paper can be read here:
Author Note: I want to emphasize that supporting individuals in making self-directed behavioral changes can be incredibly beneficial. This paper does not aim to argue that behavioral change is inherently unethical; rather, it advocates for centering such changes around a person’s own goals to preserve autonomy. Behavioral therapies can have a profound impact. Personally, dialectical behavioral therapy was life-changing for me. I fully support everyone’s right to pursue behavioral change through the modalities that best support them.
HCI practitioners often look to human behaviors as a source of inspiration for design problems that might be solved through technological solutions. The HCI framing of behaviors as being positive (behavior we aim to promote through design) or negative (behavior we aim to prevent through design) is often centered around productivity or desired social expectations dictated by current norms. Neurodivergent people are more likely to be medicalized and criticized for their behaviors creating a tempting pool of “problems” designers can solve.
Hand “stimming,” a behavior associated with neurodivergent people that is particularly prevalent and embraced by autistic people. Stimming, or self-stimulatory behavior, includes repetitive actions , and can entail things like finger/hand flapping, rocking, humming etc. Stimming is performed to process sensory input, process emotions and express feelings, and because it is pleasurable and self-soothing. Many neurodivergent people are taught or forced to suppress their stims. Julia Bascom’s, “Quiet Hands” discusses the impact of having hand stims suppressed and provides a moving account of how hand stimming shapes one’s experiences and sense of self. Bascom’s words are overlaid on photographs of my own hands engaged in stimming. The images of my hands show my fingers flapping freely, a behavior that I have performed since birth. This behavior plays an important role to my wellbeing and ability to self-soothe, while to the outward observer these movements might seem to serve no real purpose.
Fidgets, often considered a toy or novelty item, are presented as an exemplar of an interactive product that supports a person’s intuitive behavior (stimming) and promotes self-determination over compliance to neurotypical and neuro-conforming expectations.
This pictorial presents a visual decision map to re-frame design for behavior intervention with respect for neurodiversity and argues that designers and researchers should aim to treat behaviors with more neutrality. Ethical behavior intervention through design requires self-reflection and meaningful input from the target user groups; this map offers a framework to guide this reflection during the design process.
My goal was to re-frame the question from, “How should our design/product/system modify this person’s behavior to make their life better?” to
Should I create this design for behavior intervention?
Dottie and the Neurodiversity Dongle
Dottie and the Neurodiversity Dongle is a fairy tale inspired by activist and scholar Liz Jackson’s term “Disability Dongle” described as “a well-intended elegant, yet useless solution to a problem we never knew we had.” Jackson argues that Disability Dongles are, “contemporary fairy tales that appeal to the abled imagination by presenting a heroic designer-protagonist whose prototype provides a techno-utopian (re)solution to the design problem.”
The “neurodiversity dongle” is an imagined device used to make neurodivergent people behave in accordance with societal norms by promoting neurotypical behaviors and preventing neurodivergent behaviors. I drew upon my own experiences with hand stimming and other autistic experiences to inform the narrative.
Not too long ago, in a place surprisingly close by, there was a person named Dottie, who just so happened to be autistic. Dottie was trying really hard to “keep it together” in life, which for them included working a full-time job and taking care of their daily needs (and their ever-growing collection of plants). This week was particularly stressful, with looming deadlines, meetings requiring significant social interaction, and a list of cold calls to strangers (a task of particular discomfort). To make things worse, Dottie’s Email Inbox chimed with a new notification: URGENT! Meeting with clients moved to tomorrow morning. This message sent Dottie into a full meltdown. Starting in the body, the curling, furling sensation could no longer be contained. All day Dottie had managed to suppress their hand movements, a particular motion that they had done since birth. A flurry of flapping and flicking, all ten fingers twirling against each other like the legs of a cloud of grasshoppers. The smooth movements were interspersed with clenched fingers that compressed before exploding back out into a fit of finger stimming. Their office doors were supposed to remain open, which meant that during working hours Dottie would mask and hide their hand stims to avoid possible shaming stares. After hours, weeks, months, and years of enduring stress while denying their hands the ability to self-sooth, Dottie could no longer contain the erupting feelings and screamed, “WHY CAN’T I JUST BE NORMAL?!”
Dottie grabbed their camera and ran out of the office. Whenever a meltdown happened, one of the best things to do after it first passed was to try distracting themselves by taking photos of mushrooms in the forest. So Dottie headed to the forest. Feeling woozy and out of breath, Dottie closed their eyes and leaned against a tree to stop from fainting. When their eyes opened, Dottie was surprised to see a strange emerald green creature.
