Insights from people with ID on a transport application

Abstract

This paper 1 presents lessons learnt from the first stage of participatory and iterative design of an application to support people with intellectual disability to use public transport in a large city. We first present an initial prototype inspired by existing literature, available data and accessibility guidelines. We explored this initial prototype within three sessions, each with a young adult with intellectual disability and one of their carers. Our young adult participants were comfortable using the phone app, though some visuals needed redesign. We found that our participants valued social connectedness and the journey itself more than efficiency. Finally, they shifted the narrative of independence into greater self-determination to choose their own forms of social connectedness and support.