Development and Evaluation of an Independently Usable Interface to Facebook for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.

This project develops and evaluates a software interface into the social media website Facebook that is independently usable by individuals with intellectual disabilities, including those with limited or no literacy skills. The software system provides a multimedia (e.g., voice recording, icons, text-to-speech) interface, a customizable filtering tool to limit screen features, and computer-generated prompts to guide the user using Facebook’s Software Development Kit and open development opportunities. A feasibility study is conducted to determine if the simplified multimedia interface approach can significantly increase independent access to the most commonly used Facebook features for students and adults with intellectual disabilities.