Social Access vs. Privacy in Wearable Computing: A Case Study of Autism

People with high-functioning autism face challenges in communication and social interaction. This article considers the possibility, and perhaps inevitability, of wearable devices such as Google Glass being used as real-time assistive technologies for this group, with the intent of enabling them to better access our complex social world. Social impairments, by their very nature, highlight issues of communication, personal information, and social judgment. In considering such assistive technology in this context, the authors explore new tensions between privacy issues and assistive technologies, especially those of a do-it-yourself nature, which are not immediately solvable within our current privacy frameworks. This article is part of a special issue on privacy and security.