In this forum we celebrate research that helps to successfully bring the benefits
of computing technologies to children, older adults, people with disabilities, and other
populations that are often ignored in the design of mass-marketed products.
Juan Pablo Hourcade, Editor
Neurodiversity HCI
Nick S. Dalton
The Open University | n.dalton@open.ac.uk
Doug Englebart said, “[A] computer
is a device for thinking with.”
This ability to assist the process
of thought separates computing
from most other technologies.
Historically, human-computer
interaction focused on the use of
technology in the workplace and
could speak about the user in
the singular. This singular user
assumed a near-uniform style of
cognitive processing, and if software conformed to this cognitive
style, its use could be simplified.
As technology increasingly permeates the fabric of life, HCI needs
to respond to the diversity of the
wider global population. As part
of this diversification, I want to
introduce a previously under-reported population discussed
under the banner of
neurodiversity. First, I will explain what
the neurodiversity movement is,
then the three basic issues defining it, and finally, I will suggest
its potential impact on HCI.
March + April 2013
interactions
Neurodiversity
The term neurodiversity was coined
by Asperger’s and autistic rights
activist Judy Singer to describe a
bottom-up self-advocacy move-
ment. Neurodiversity has since
expanded to include a group of
non-related cognitive disabilities
such as dyslexia, dyscalulia, dys-
praxia/DCD, autistic spectrum
disorder/Asperger’s syndrome,
Tourette’s syndrome, and atten-
tion deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). Those affected by these
conditions are referred to as the
neurodiverse. Rather satirically, the
neurodiverse movement uses the
term neurotypical to describe the
non-neurodiverse individuals con-
stituting wider society.
