Imagine meeting with a client and writing down only their limitations and dislikes. Now, return to your office and base your design on that criterion alone. How can any architect create an inspiring and meaningful design out of that? Yet, this is how many architects design for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The focus is on what individuals with autism cannot do rather than what they can. Such a negative approach seems misguided and unnecessary. Architects should make people more able not less disabled. It is a subtle distinction, but an important one.
At Bittersweet Farms, a residential and vocational facility for adults with autism, each staff member is required to know the likes, abilities, dislikes, and disabilities of each person with whom they work. The emphasis, however, is on the likes and abilities. Each support plan lists an individual’s likes before his or her dislikes, and staff are asked to learn them in that order. This emphasis guards against an apparent tendency to focus on what people with disabilities cannot do rather than what they can. Perhaps this tendency arises out of honest intentions to avoid all possible harm, but Bittersweet sees it as counterproductive.
For example, one individual at Bittersweet becomes irritated when he is over prompted to do something. So what? This doesn’t help staff members get him ready for bed or motivated to go to work in the morning. For that they need to know what he likes and how he is best supported. This particular individual loves singing musicals, roller blading, hiking, and doing art. Instead of being in constant fear of prompting him, staff members can say, “Do you want to sing a musical number and then get ready for bed,” or “Would you like to roller blade before or after we do the laundry?” If he ever does get frustrated staff members know how to redirect him toward things he enjoys. If staff members only know what he doesn’t like then they will be left scrambling for helpful solutions when he eventually, as we all do, becomes upset. Perhaps architects could learn something from this empowering approach.
