Co-Designing with Autistic Livestreamers: Care, Constraints, and Trade-offs in Livestreaming

Mok, T., Tang, A., and Oehlberg, L. (2026). Co-Designing with Autistic Livestreamers: Care, Constraints, and Trade-offs in Livestreaming. In Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '26).

Abstract

Autistic livestreamers use platforms like Twitch for social connection, self-expression, and community, but these spaces also impose ongoing social and emotional demands. Prior work has documented these experiences, but less is known about what autistic creators themselves envision for the tools and platforms they use. We address this gap through a Research through Design (RtD) co-design study with three autistic Twitch streamers, using speculative artefacts as discussion prompts to explore how participants reasoned about potential livestreaming technologies. Across three co-design activities, we identify three overarching tensions shaping autistic streaming practice: Expression versus Misinterpretation and Harm; Public Participation versus Control and Moderation; and Sustainable Practice versus Finite Energy. Our co-designers surfaced constraints, trade-offs, boundaries, and hesitations toward automation, and concerns about managing viewer expectations. This work contributes an account of co-design as a reflective practice with autistic livestreamers, showing how speculative artefacts can surface values, limits, and design reasoning around livestreaming technology.

Materials

BibTeX

@inproceedings{mok2026codesign,
  abstract = {Autistic livestreamers use platforms like Twitch for social connection, self-expression, and community, but these spaces also impose ongoing social and emotional demands. Prior work has documented these experiences, but less is known about what autistic creators themselves envision for the tools and platforms they use. We address this gap through a Research through Design (RtD) co-design study with three autistic Twitch streamers, using speculative artefacts as discussion prompts to explore how participants reasoned about potential livestreaming technologies. Across three co-design activities, we identify three overarching tensions shaping autistic streaming practice: Expression versus Misinterpretation and Harm; Public Participation versus Control and Moderation; and Sustainable Practice versus Finite Energy. Our co-designers surfaced constraints, trade-offs, boundaries, and hesitations toward automation, and concerns about managing viewer expectations. This work contributes an account of co-design as a reflective practice with autistic livestreamers, showing how speculative artefacts can surface values, limits, and design reasoning around livestreaming technology.},
  note = {In press},
  type = {conference},
  publisher = {ACM},
  year = {2026},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '26)},
  title = {Co-Designing with Autistic Livestreamers: Care, Constraints, and Trade-offs in Livestreaming},
  author = {Mok, Terrance and Tang, Anthony and Oehlberg, Lora},
}