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We’re pleased to share the HAL Lab’s Challenge Brief. This document captures the patterns and insights of housing through an autism lens gathered from our work to date. It describes why we gathered participants and partners from the autistic housing system in this Solutions Lab and what we did to explore the legislative, programmatic, and lived experience of autistic adults in housing.

We’re pleased to share an overview of the HAL Lab project to date here.

Hi everyone! We appreciate all your contributions and support during the HAL Lab project. We are pleased to share the four solutions we are proposing to be advanced in separate initiatives:

Solution 1 – The Housing Blueprint 

Solution 2 – National Network 

Solution 3 – Policy Brief  

Solution 4 – Paradigm Shift 

Please also see our complete blueprint for designing and developing housing solutions for Autistic adults. This blueprint is a guide to positive outcomes in housing for an autistic person no matter where they are in their adult life course or whatever their needs.

The HAL-Lab has developed four prototypes. The first is The Blueprint. This prototype is designed to achieve positive outcomes in housing for an autistic person no matter where they are in their adult life. The Blueprint reflects the needs and roles of:

• Autistic individuals and their families
• Organisations
• Policymakers
• Housing designers
• Housing providers

The Blueprint is informed by eight elements needed to secure suitable housing for autistic adults.  Each element contains a list of requirements and subsequent questions. The requirements describe the key aspects, factors, or conditions of the element to be successful. They were derived from the entire Housing through an Autism Lens Solutions lab and represent what the system around housing has told us makes a safe, secure, and empowering housing experience for autistic adults.

Here is a response from one of the project advisors in response to the question “what was prototyping like and what interests you about The Blueprint?” 

HAL-Lab project advocates Maddy Dever and Courtney Weaver , together with project lead Pari Johnston, delivered a presentation at OCALICON 2021 on the HAL Solutions Lab. The presentation covered key project learning outcomes, their experience with the project, and a question-and-answer period. Check out the slide presentation here.

Thank you to everyone who submitted their micro-stories! We now have 300 experiences to inform our ideation, prototyping and roadmapping work ahead. Solutions are in sight! Stay tuned.

We’re so excited to have started gathering micro-stories related to housing and Autistic adults! These ‘micro-stories’ will give our team the insights we need to help take down barriers and find solutions. If you haven’t already, please consider submitting your story today. You may have several experiences to share and we welcome them all. Learn how to share your experience here.

We’re excited to be up and running with our official launch! Now is the best time to get involved. Let us know what your interests and insights are related to housing barriers and solutions for Autistic adults. There are several ways for Autistic Adults and stakeholders — including service providers and housing developers or landlords — to be a part of this project. Go to our “Get Involved” page on the website menu to sign up and learn more. Opportunities include:

1. Submitting micro-stories about your experiences
2. Letting others know about the opportunity to submit micro-stories
3. Contributing your insights at workgroup sessions
4. Participating in stakeholder ideation sessions and a policy round table to share findings and generate potential solutions
5. Helping prototype top ideas

We look forward to hearing from you!