Up to 1 in 100 people today are affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), which can manifest as an extreme sensitivity to sensory inputs, impaired social cognition, generalized anxiety, and difficulties with interpersonal communication and the expression of empathy. When an individual's executive functioning is not severely impaired, the autistic cognitive style is characterized by highly creative associative thinking, awareness of detail, and a strong degree of systematizing. The neurodiversity movement has emerged to raise awareness of this unique cognitive style, and help people leverage its strengths. Whereas accessible design envisions systems that are useful to people with disabilities, and universal design creates systems that are usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, there have been no structured design techniques targeting the needs associated with neurodiversity. This is significant because Human-Computer Interface (HCI) research has identified that more effectively addressing the needs of the rapidly increasing neurodiverse population would likely provide benefits for all people. This paper bridges that gap with Design for Neurodiversity (DfN), a new process for designing systems that the targets the sensory, cognitive, and relational aspects of process design. This structured design methodology is based on a comprehensive review of the design process viewed through the lens of Design for X (DfX) methods in concurrent engineering, and utilizes findings from participative ergonomics, participatory and interactive art, and the design of cognitive systems in artificial intelligence.
