Sponsor
This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant number R34MH092503 and Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) grant number UL1 RR024140 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.
Published In
Autism in Adulthood
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
6-1-2019
Abstract
Websites figure predominantly in everyday life. However, many websites remain inaccessible to autistic people, and existing efforts to improve accessibility are in early stages, do not directly include autistic users in their development, or have not been empirically evaluated. The Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) used a community-based participatory research approach to create a website to improve health care access for autistic adults. We used the creation of that website as a “living laboratory” to develop the AASPIRE Web Accessibility Guidelines for Autistic Web Users. Our guidelines are grounded in accessibility theory, had autistic end-user involvement at all stages, and were empirically evaluated through a usability study and evaluation surveys. We incorporated what we learned into the design of the website, and compiled the accessibility information into a set of guidelines. The guidelines offer recommendations for increasing the physical, intellectual, and social acceptability of websites for use by autistic adults. In the evaluation of the website by 170 autistic end users, nearly all indicated it was easy to use (97%), easy to understand (95%), important (97%), and useful (96%). Ninety-two percent would recommend it to a friend, and 95% would recommend it to a health care provider. There were no significant associations between usability or understandability and education level, receipt of help using the site, browser type (e.g., IE or Safari), or device type (e.g., PC or tablet). We recommend using the guidelines to improve website accessibility for autistic Internet users.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1089/aut.2018.0020
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/32750
Citation Details
Dora M. Raymaker, Steven K. Kapp, Katherine E. McDonald, Michael Weiner, Elesia Ashkenazy, and Christina Nicolaidis.Autism in Adulthood.Jun 2019.146-157.http://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2018.0020
Description
Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2018.0020
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