Co-Designing Social Inclusion: Leveraging Social Media for Life Skills in Young Adults with ID

TL;DR

Social media is often seen as a distraction, but for young adults with Intellectual Disability (ID), it holds untapped potential for social inclusion. This PhD research by Andrew Bayor moves beyond the "deficit model" of disability, instead using popular platforms like YouTube and Facebook as digital classrooms. By co-designing with the users themselves, the study develops a framework for social life skills training that is grounded in the existing interests and tech competencies of the participants.

Background: The Digital Divide vs. The Participation Gap

While the global youth population is hyper-connected, young adults with ID face a unique "digital divide." They are online, but they often struggle with the social cues, safety risks, and conversational nuances required for deep participation. Current public policy emphasizes social inclusion, yet many tools designed for this group are overly clinical or require high learning curves.

The motivation here is simple yet profound: Why force users to learn a new "special needs" app when we can adapt the tools they already love?

Methodology: A Three-Phase Participatory Approach

The research is structured around Participatory Action Research (PAR), ensuring that the participants are not just "test subjects" but active co-designers of their own learning journey.

The Core Framework:

1. Exploration: Understanding current habits. (e.g., Why do all participants use YouTube but few use it for learning?)
2. Co-Design & Training: Creating workshops that use YouTube content to teach emotions, facial expressions, and manners.
3. Evaluation: Testing the efficacy of these co-designed prototypes in new contexts like online safety.

Note: The research focuses on the intersection of social media use and practical life skill development.

Key Insights: From Consumption to Competence

The first phase of the study revealed a critical "Aha!" moment: YouTube is the universal entry point. Every single participant (n=27) utilized YouTube.

However, their engagement was mostly "passive consumption." The research insight was to transform this consumption into "active learning." For instance, a video about a social interaction is no longer just a movie; it becomes a case study for role-play and group discussion in the workshop.

Key Social Skills Targeted:

• Emotions: Recognizing facial expressions through video analysis.
• Safety: Learning to react to unsafe actions in a digital world.
• Manners: Social conversational skills and online etiquette.

Challenges in the Field

Working within Disability Support Organizations (DSO) involves unique hurdles that Bayor highlights:

• Trust-Building: Establishing rapport with participants who may feel vulnerable.
• Ethics: Ensuring "easy-to-read" consent forms and maintaining the right to withdraw.
• Complexity: Balancing the needs of the participants, proxies (caregivers), and the organizational environment.

Critical Reflection & Future Value

The real contribution of this work isn't just a "training manual"—it’s the Shift in Perspective. By treating young adults with ID as experts in their own digital lives, we unlock more sustainable and dignified pathways to inclusion.

The project's eventual expansion to locations like Ghana points to the scalability of this "interest-based" approach. If we can build on what people can do and what they like to do, the barriers to social participation begin to disappear.

Conclusion

Andrew Bayor's research serves as a blueprint for future HCI work. It proves that the most powerful assistive technology might already be sitting in our pockets; it just needs the right co-designed framework to make it accessible to everyone.