Socializing via a Scarf - Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Explore Smart Textiles.

Smart textiles, a subset of wearable technologies, inspire novel human-interactions that leverage people's physical and cognitive actions. However, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have different communication, social, and sensory experiences than non-disabled people. We empirically investigate how adults with IDD determine the functionality of smart textiles and which smart textile qualities impact comfort. We demonstrate a research design method that elicits social interaction among adults with IDD. We found that smart textiles facilitate embodied and social interactions among adults with IDD. We also present an emerging design space based on smart textile capabilities and user needs.