Exploring Autism-Friendly Campuses

We’re conducting a study to understand how campus spaces at the University of Alberta affect Autistic students’ sense of safety, especially regarding sensory and psychological safety.

Here’s what the study involves

You’ll visit five different spaces on campus while wearing eye-tracking glasses and an Apple Watch.

These devices will help us collect data about:

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A black and white silhouette of an apple watch on a white background.
A silhouette of trees , a cloud , and the sun on a white background.

What’s happening in your environment

Examples: Number of people, noise levels

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What's happening for you while exploring each space

Examples: heart rate, what you are looking at, pupil size

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A large building with a sign in front of it that says cameron library.
A large building with a lot of windows is lit up at night
A library with tables and chairs and a green wall
A building with a green sign that says hub mall & residence

"I did not feel like I belonged on campus. I constantly struggle with my sensory issues and feel overwhelmed by crowds and layers of conversation.”


Autistic Post-Secondary Student

Campus Belonging Network 2022

In each space, you’ll be asked to rate the sensory and psychological safety of the spaces you visit and share your thoughts through short conversations or written responses.


We’ll combine your ratings and descriptions of how the space impacts you with the devices' data to understand how different aspects of the spaces—like lighting, crowdedness, or noise—affect each participant’s comfort and sense of safety. 

Our goal is to learn:

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Which campus features make spaces feel safe or uncomfortable for Autistic students? 

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To explore how autistic students feel about sensory aspects of specific spaces (like bright vs. neutral colours) and ask to what extent are the sensory preferences and experiences in these five campus spaces similar across Autistic students. 

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The relationships between feelings of sensory and psychological safety to feelings of stress and anxiety. 

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