Katie is a designer and research associate at The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at The Royal College of Art. Her work celebrates neurodiversity and, in a long-term partnership with the Kingwood Trust, Katie’s research explores how design can improve living environments for adults with autism, making real-world application of findings. Katie’s research with the Kingwood Trust also continues as a PhD by practice, which is an exploration and development of empathic design approaches that respond to the needs and aspirations of adults with autism to improve their everyday life.
Katie works closely with people who have learning disabilities and limited verbal speech, therefore an important challenge is developing ways to design with/for people who experience and perceive the world a lot differently and are unable to verbally communicate this.
The research brings together three distinctive and relevant forms of expertise: the people-centric design ethos of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, the innovation and making orientation of Innovation Design Engineering and autism expertise at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE).
Public Engagement:
Brain Detectives on Tour
Recent Publications/Presentations:
Gaudion, K., & McGinley, C. (2013). Green spaces: Outdoor environments for adults with autism. Poster presented at the 10th Autism-Europe International Congress, Budapest, September 2013.
Gaudion, K., Menzies, C., & Osborn, S. (2013). Issues and practical solutions around good design for people with autism. Presentation at The National Autistic Society Conference, Belfast, November 2013.
