Exploring creativity within the autistic and ADHD community is important as their strengths are often unrecognised in society. The neurodiversity perspective considers autism and ADHD as variations in brain structure and function, leading to experiencing the world differently. It should then, follow that neurodivergent individuals may express creativity differently from standard expectations. However, commonly used creativity measures do not accommodate the different ways in which neurodivergent individuals process and combine external information, thus failing to capture the different and unique presentations of creativity. In light of this, we aimed to develop a novel measure to explore creativity within autistic and ADHD individuals. The sample (N=26) included 3 autistic, 5 autistic+ADHD, 8 ADHD and 10 neurotypical adults. Various methods were used, including: two storytelling tasks, the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis demonstrated different presentations of creativity across groups. Two themes were identified regarding factors which affect creativity in neurodivergent individuals: attention and thinking differently or seeing the world differently. Further, three themes suggested improvements for future creativity tests: time, anxiety and instructions. Findings have implications not only for developing an inclusive creativity measure, but also for designing strengths-based interventions to facilitate creativity in neurodivergent individuals.

PurposeThis paper aims to raise awareness of and argue for the use of participatory methods for the research and development of Virtual Reality (VR) applications designed for neurodivergent groups. This includes exploring why it is important to meaningfully include neurodivergent groups and the benefits their inclusion provide.Design/methodology/approachVR is becoming increasingly widespread as a consumer product and interventional tool. It is vital for researchers and developers to embrace best practices in these early stages of using the technology, making certain that neurodivergent people have the best possible outcomes.FindingsThe neurodivergent community is dissatisfied with many of the research directions currently being undertaken. This dissatisfaction arises from conflicting priorities between different stakeholders and the lack of input from the community. Participatory research brings neurodivergent people into the research process, whether as members of the research team or as consultants at key steps. Effective participatory research ensures that the priorities of the neurodivergent community are better incorporated in research, as well as enabling the development of more effective applications for VR.Originality/valueParticipatory methods are unutilised in the development of applications aimed for neurodivergent people. By describing their use and utility in other areas, this article aims to encourage other VR researchers to take neurodivergent people on board.

PurposeRecent work could further improve the use of VR technology by advocating the use of psychological theories in task design and highlighting certain properties of VR configurations and human – VR interactions. The variety of VR technology used in the trials prevents us from establishing a systematic relationship between the technology type and its effectiveness. As such, more research is needed to study this link, and our piece is an attempt to shed a spotlight on the issue.Design/methodology/approachTo explore recent developments in the field, the authors followed the procedures of scoping review by Savickaite et al. (2022) and included publications from 2021 to 2022.FindingsIn this updated analysis, it was clear that the research themes emerging over the last two years were similar to those identified previously. Social training and intervention work still dominates the research area, in spite of recent calls from the autism community to broaden the scientific understanding of neurodivergent experiences and daily living behaviours. Although, autism is often characterised by difficulties with social interactions, it is just one part of the presentation. Sensory differences, motor difficulties and repetitive behaviours are also important facets of the condition, as well as various wider aspects of health, wellbeing and quality of life. However, many of these topics appear to be understudied in research on VR applications for autism.Originality/valueVR stands out from other representational technologies because of its immersion, presence and interactivity and has grown into its own niche. The question of what constitutes a truly immersive experience has resurfaced. We can no longer deny that VR has established itself in autism research. As the number of studies continues to grow, it is a perfect time to reconsider and update our notion of definitions of immersion and its reliance on hardware.

his special issue of the Journal of Enabling Technologies aimed to examine virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) and autistic experiences within a multitude of contexts, such as accessibility, sensory processing, education, teaching and living skills. Specifically, we have six articles that evaluate these topics. We have included papers on AR and XR in the special issue because VR is a spectrum in and of itself, allowing for varying levels of immersion and intractability. Until the taxonomy problem is resolved (or at least, clarified), we recommend exploring a broad spectrum of immersive technology applications in autism research. We have also written two opinion pieces as part of this special issue. We believe these two papers illustrate two main challenges researchers currently face in the interdisciplinary field of VR applications in autism research. We will highlight how the participatory action research (PAR) piece fits with the articles in our special issue later in the text. Our second opinion piece discusses current trends and challenges in the taxonomy. We can no longer deny that VR has established itself in autism research. As the number of studies continues to grow, it is a perfect time to reconsider and update our notion of definitions of immersion and its reliance on hardware.