Co-designing with young adults with intellectual disability to develop social life skills

Participation in social media has become mainstream and accessible, especially among young people. Social media offer opportunities for social connectedness as well as content sharing and skills development. Developing social skills is an essential goal for young adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) as they are interested in greater social participation. This PhD research grounds itself in social participation, and in exploring how existing competencies with technology and interests mediated through technology can be leveraged to support social skills development and participation. Through this approach, we aim to understand how technologies are appropriated, abandoned, and how they might be reconfigured and redesigned while focusing on supporting social participation for young adults with ID. This PhD research will employ a Participatory Action Research Approach that involves qualitative methods and co-design workshops. As outcomes, the PhD would contribute an empirical understanding of social media use; a social skills training framework that leverages social media, and design guidelines and prototypes for social media platforms to better support social participation through social skills development of young adults with ID.