Product
Reduced stimulation by default
Most apps show everything at once. Autistic Mirror shows the bare minimum first. Whoever needs more context expands it per section. This default is not a stripped-down mode, it is the consequence of a neurological observation.
Why reduced is the default
Autistic processing filters sensory and visual input differently. Sensory gating, the unconscious mechanism that dampens irrelevant input already at brainstem level, runs less automatically. More signals reach conscious processing. What disappears into the background in neurotypical processing stays in the foreground here.
On top of that sits predictive coding. The brain constantly precomputes what will arrive next and forwards only the deviation as a signal. In autistic processing those predictions are sharper, that is, less forgiving. A page that suddenly unfolds twenty sections creates twenty deviations, each of them asking to be processed.
Together this produces sensory processing fatigue, a state in which the cognitive resources spent on filtering are no longer available for the actual content. A user who has spent three minutes parsing pricing cards often has no energy left for the question that brought them here in the first place.
Where you can see this in the app
Reduced stimulation is not a single setting in a single place. It is the baseline orientation of six surfaces at once.
Landing page. Hero, inner-view card, outer-view card. Nothing more. Comparison with generic AI, safety architecture, FAQ, transparency notes, use-case spectrum, examples, B2B hint - all there, all reachable, all collapsed. One "Show more" button per section, opening exactly what sits inside.
Pricing page. Three plan cards side by side: Reflect, Mirror, Deep. Token amount, price, core idea. Click "Show details" to open rationale, voice limits, top-up options. Whoever already knows the plan buys without scrolling. Whoever wants to compare opens only the card that matters.
Header and footer. In reduced mode the main menu shows only the two most-used actions: language and a Show-more button. The footer is reduced to legally required links. Whoever wants the full navigation toggles it on through the same Show-more button used on the landing and pricing pages.
Chat. No suggestion bubbles under the input. No feedback popup after every reply. The typewriter animation that builds characters one by one is optional. The chat header carries only the two actions almost always needed, the rest sits behind a dropdown.
Settings, reduced stimulation section. This is where the default gets refined. One master switch ("Follow default" or "Always detailed" or "Always reduced") plus seven detail toggles. Each detail toggle carries a short plain-language note that explains what actually changes.
What the seven detail toggles do
So nobody has to guess what sits behind which option, here in plain language:
Suggestion chips in chat. Off: no suggestion bubbles under the input. You start with an empty keyboard. On: three example questions you can tap.
Feedback module after replies. Off: the small thumb icon opens only when you tap it. On: the three rating buttons are visible right away.
Condense header actions. Off: all four actions (voice, bookmarks, history, profile) sit behind a dropdown. On: all four are visible side by side.
Scroll animation. Off: content appears immediately, no fade-in. On: a light fade as new sections enter the view.
Typewriter effect. Off: the AI reply appears in full when ready. On: the reply types itself character by character.
Plan cards compact. Off: price and token count only. On: rationale, voice limits and per-card comparison.
Landing sections compact. Off: only hero plus the two mode cards. On: every section expanded.
What actually changes when you expand
The expanded mode is not a premium feature and not an upsell. It is the same information, just unfolded. Whoever chooses it sees the full navigation, the full plan details, the full landing, the full chat surface.
Important for prediction: the switch happens exactly where you trigger it. Clicking "Show more" opens a small confirmation that explains what is about to happen and asks once. This is not a friction layer, it is protection against accidental sensory flood. Once you confirm, your click is remembered for 24 hours and the dialog does not appear again.
Transparency does not mean sensory flood
A new app has to build trust, and trust gets built from explanation. Autistic Mirror therefore explains its architecture, its sources, its limits, its safety layers, its business model. That is a lot.
That is exactly why two views exist. The default view is reduced, because trust also gets built from protection: from the observation that the app knows what it can ask of its users and what it cannot. The expanded view is available on demand for anyone who wants all details at a glance.
Transparency and sensory protection do not exclude each other. They alternate, steered by the person who is reading right now.
Stance over marketing
Reduced stimulation is not a feature in Autistic Mirror. It is the baseline. Nobody has to pay for it. Nobody has to walk through onboarding to find it. It is there the moment the page loads.
It is the only honest starting point for an app built for autistic people. Expansion is optional, protection is the default.
Autistic Mirror is an AI chat that explains autistic neurology individually, applied to your situation. Mechanism over advice. Explanation over correction. The app is not a medical device and does not replace medical or therapeutic treatment.
