Social Virtual Environments as ‘Third Places’: Co-Designing Socio-Relational Spaces For Autistic Young Adults

This dissertation investigates the potential of social virtual environments (SVEs) to support the well-being, social participation, and quality of life of autistic young adults. Historically, autism research and intervention have focused primarily on childhood and have often been grounded in deficit-based frameworks. In contrast, contemporary perspectives informed by the neurodiversity paradigm emphasize autism as a form of human variation and call for research that centers autistic voices and lived experience. Responding to these shifts, this project explores how online environments - particularly Discord and the social virtual platform VRChat - may function as inclusive social contexts and inform the design of neurodiversity-affirming interventions. The dissertation adopts a sequential multi-study research design integrating qualitative, participatory, and exploratory intervention approaches. Study 1 analyzes autistic self-generated online narratives discussing experiences within VRChat, identifying key themes related to community formation, identity exploration, and strategies for navigating social interaction in virtual environments. Studies 2 and 3 examine perspectives from clinicians and intervention professionals across Italy, the United States, and Australia, exploring cross-cultural understandings of autism support and the potential role of digital environments in intervention design. Study 4 foregrounds autistic young adults’ own priorities, preferences, and lived experiences through interviews and focus groups, informing the co-design of an intervention model. Study 5 then implements and evaluates a pilot intervention delivered through VRChat and Discord, examining how these environments may facilitate social engagement. Across studies, findings suggest that social virtual environments can function as conditional “third places” - accessible social contexts that support connection, identity expression, and community formation for autistic individuals. Rather than emphasizing social skills training alone, the research highlights the importance of designing relational infrastructures that prioritize autonomy, sensory accessibility, and shared interests. By integrating insights from autism studies, human-computer interaction, and participatory research, this dissertation contributes theoretical, methodological, and practical advances to the field. Within the limits of an exploratory and pilot research design, the findings suggest that digital/virtual environments may expand possibilities for neurodiversity-affirming intervention design and offer a framework for developing socially meaningful supports for autistic adults.