Understanding Autism
I recently came across a YouTube video about how autistic children can be triggered in shopping malls. I didn’t plan to watch it fully, but I ended up staying. There was one line that really stayed with me: “Understand autism and what you can do to help.”
It sounds simple, but it made me really think.
The video showed how everyday places — loud, crowded, visually busy malls — can feel overwhelming or even unbearable for autistic kids. Things most people don’t think twice about, like background noise, bright lights, or constant movement, can quickly turn into stress or panic. Watching this made me realize how little attention we often pay to how environments actually feel to different people.
It immediately connected to my own thoughts about design and technology. I started asking myself: what if help doesn’t only come from people, but also from the way spaces are designed? What if support could be built into the environment itself?
This is where my thinking shifted toward Augmented Reality and sensory support. AR is usually talked about as something exciting or innovative, but what if it could also be calming? What if, alongside AR guidance on a phone, there were noise-cancelling headphones available in certain areas of a shopping mall — spaces designed to feel quieter, slower, and less overwhelming?
The more I thought about it, the clearer it became that this wouldn’t only help autistic individuals. It could also support shy, introverted, or easily overwhelmed people. Not everyone enjoys crowded, noisy places. Sometimes you just want to get what you need without feeling exposed, rushed, or overstimulated. A calm AR experience — predictable, guided, and visually simple — could make shopping feel safer and more comfortable for many people.
What this video really did was shift my perspective. It reminded me that technology alone isn’t the solution. Before designing anything, there’s a need to listen, to understand real experiences.
It made me think that my next step should be talking to professionals who work with autistic children — therapists, psychologists, educators — could be essential. Not to validate an idea, but to shape it responsibly and realistically.
This impulse wasn’t about finding an answer. It was about becoming more aware. . And sometimes, all it takes is to imagine urself in there shoes. This video make you see familiar spaces in a completely different way.
Link that inspired this impulse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPknwW8mPAM
Understanding Autism and How You Can Help
https://youtu.be/DgDR_gYk_a8
In the development of this impulse post, AI (ChatGPT) was used as a supportive writing and structuring tool. I provided the conceptual content, research direction, theoretical preferences, and methodological decisions, while the AI assisted in translating my ideas into English, refining wording, organising the material, and generating a coherent text draft based on my input. The AI did not generate original research or arguments but supported the transformation of my ideas into a clear and well-structured written form.
