One of the clearest changes I made after Sarah's feedback was to make my own position in the research more visible.

Earlier versions of the report were academically clear, but I had almost written myself out of the project. The research was visible, but the designer making decisions from that research was much less visible.

My Position as a Graphic Designer

I added a clearer statement explaining that I am approaching the project as a graphic designer interested in communication and designed systems.

This feels important because the project has moved into physiology, AI, biosensing and wearable technology.

I am not claiming expertise as a clinician or biomedical engineer. My role is to consider how complex information and systems could be made understandable, accessible and controllable for the person using them.

Summer as Personal Motivation

My sister, Summer, remains an important personal reason for the project.

Conversations with her helped make me question whether opportunities for independent travel are equally accessible to adults on the autism spectrum.

I wanted to include that motivation because removing it completely would make the report less truthful about where the enquiry came from.

Not Treating One Person as Evidence

At the same time, Sarah's feedback helped me be clearer about the role Summer should play in the report.

Her preferences cannot be treated as representative of autistic adults generally. The broader evidence comes from the literature and the ten participants in my primary research.

Summer is more useful as a reflective lens.

For example, when thinking about a wearable, I can ask whether she would actually tolerate a hard jewellery-like object or whether something soft and fabric-based would feel more realistic for her.

That question does not prove what every autistic traveller wants, but it exposes a design issue that can then be investigated more broadly.

Personal connection can shape the questions I ask without replacing the evidence needed to answer them.

Why Positionality Matters

Making my position visible also helps acknowledge that qualitative research is interpreted.

My interests in autonomy, discretion, comfort and trust influence what I notice and what I consider important.

Rather than pretending this has no effect, I can be explicit about it and keep checking my interpretation against participant data and published research.

What This Changed

The revision makes the Critical Report feel much more connected to the Studio Practice.

It explains why I am approaching the problem through design and why issues such as materiality, communication and control matter alongside the technical feasibility of the system.

The aim is to keep the report academically grounded without removing the designer who is actually making the decisions.