The condition is generally characterised by trouble interacting and communicating with others, narrow interests and repetitive behaviour.<\/p>\n
Many people on the spectrum are also highly sensitive to noise, touch, smell and light.<\/p>\n
Our world is not designed for people with autism, and it is not uncommon for some to be trapped at home for much of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that people on the spectrum heavily rely on family and friends for their transportation needs,\u201d Mortaza says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis in turn leads to limited access to education, employment and even social participation, such as attending social gatherings. It is a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The solution? Make it easier for people on the spectrum to access public transport.<\/p>\n
Planes, trains and automobiles<\/h2>\n
Public transport is a cheap, readily accessible and independent form of transport.<\/p>\n
But for people on the spectrum, it can be a minefield of anxiety, stress, unpredictability and sensory overload, Mortaza says.<\/p>\n
Buses and trains often run late, and services sometimes have to take different routes because of things like roadworks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that people on the spectrum heavily rely on patterns,\u201d Mortaza says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when a pattern is disturbed it becomes a problem. It causes anxiety and panic attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public transport can also be very crowded, adding a new dimension of unpredictability.<\/p>\n
OrienTrip<\/h2>\n
Mortaza, a software engineer, has developed an app called OrienTrip to help people on the spectrum navigate these challenges.<\/p>\n
Funded by Autism CRC<\/a>, the app lets users plan their journey according to their preferences.<\/p>\n They can choose less-crowded services, for instance, pick services that usually have seats available or reduce the number of interchanges.<\/p>\n Mortaza says many people on the spectrum struggle to identify landmarks on their trip that can help them recognise when to get off.<\/p>\n \u201cWe display the trip map on a linear line with all the stops in the journey and the user\u2019s current location relative to those stops,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you know exactly when your stop is coming up and when to press the bell.\u201d<\/p>\n The app contains evidence-based anxiety management and sensory overload tips for managing stressful situations.<\/p>\n Users can also share their location or call a carer from the app if they need to.<\/p>\n With the confidence to travel independently on public transport can come more opportunities that most of us take for granted.<\/p>\n The potential is nothing short of life-changing.<\/p>\n PhD student Mortaza Rezae has developed an app called OrienTrip to help people on the spectrum navigate these challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"6103,7540,7898,5435,5201,6786","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":3,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community","category-medical-science"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":{"title":"Michelle Wheeler","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"post_components":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/shutterstock_72095-e1556787263559-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Jarrad","last_name":"Long","display_name":"Jarrad Long"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 19:29:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7482"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}This article was originally published on Particle<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"