Alley, a full-service digital agency ◦ Non-profit clients: American Association of Museums, Kauffman Family Foundation, Direct Relief, Cooper Union • Web Accessibility Specialist, certified by International Association of Accessibility Professionals • Autistic • Live in the Philadelphia suburbs • Interests: reading, quilting, cooking, Star Trek • Twitter: @cahdeemer
people with cognitive disabilities experience with digital projects. Recognize design patterns recommended by the W3C for making content usable by people with cognitive disabilities. Utilize those design patterns in your digital work. Advocate for incorporating these design patterns into your work during all lifecycle stages of a digital project
a shameful or dirty word • Cognitive disabilities is an umbrella term that includes neurodiversity, neurological disorders, mental and behavioral disorders
a shameful or dirty word • Cognitive disabilities is an umbrella term that includes neurodiversity, neurological disorders, mental and behavioral disorders • Both identity-first and person-first language is acceptable
a shameful or dirty word • Cognitive disabilities is an umbrella term that includes neurodiversity, neurological disorders, mental and behavioral disorders • Both identity-first and person-first language is acceptable • Functional terminology for cognitive disabilities is more useful in this context than clinical diagnostic terms
over clinical terms because: • Not everyone with a cognitive disability has a clinical diagnosis. • Not everyone with a cognitive disability has only one diagnosis. • Not everyone with the same disability experiences it the same way.
disabilities that affect the way people use the web include • Memory • Problem solving • Decision making • Attention & focus • Time management • Processing speed • Math comprehension • Reading and language comprehension NOT A COMPLETE LIST 🙂
W3C Working Group Note • Assumes that WCAG has already been met • Non-normative - not required to meet the existing standard • Cannot be tested with existing automated tools
design metaphors can be hard to learn. Who is affected Learning a new layout can be difficult for people with difficulties processing, making decisions, or remembering things. Advocacy • During the design phase so you don’t have make costly remediation steps later • During testing phases listen to users when they comment on layout or structure
Why Media that is long can cause users to lose focus Who is affected Staying focused on long blocks of media may be difficult for users who struggle with focus or attention issues Advocacy Talk to the media teams as early as possible about accessibility so you can make thoughtful decisions about how to appropriately chunk content
Who Search functionality that demands complete, accurately spelled words can fail users with language impairments and memory issues When to Advocate During just about any phase of a project lifecycle How to implement Your engineering team will be experts in identifying the right solutions for your product and tech stack 25
in every site, in-gallery interactive, kiosk, online exhibition, and game. Back buttons should be distinct from “start over” buttons. Users should be able to go back without losing their progress. 26
be able to review their progress and correct mistakes. Who is affected Enabling users to go back can help users with anxiety and memory issues as well as users who have difficulties following instructions complete tasks successfully because they can review information, instructions, or their responses. Advocacy During the design phase -- although the need usually comes up during testing 😬 27
that runs edge to edge • Break up content with headings • Make it easy to dismiss pop ups, banners, and other distractions • Don’t distract users during critical steps in a process • Limit users to 5 or fewer choices 28 Logo 🔎
get lost with too much information and activity Who is affected Busy, crowded screens can cause anxiety and users with attention issues can lose focus and abandon their task Advocacy Advocacy is most needed during the maintenance phase when features are piled on a basic interface without the team understanding the cumulative effect on users 29
memory 30 Provide options for users to login in the way that is most comfortable for them Do not make users • Memorize character strings • Perform calculations • Solve puzzles • Recognize characters on a screen and input them into a field
memory Why Users should be able login, register, and reset credentials without more effort than it takes to navigate a standard webpage Who is affected People with memory impairments may not be able to login if they don’t remember their passwords. People with language and math impairments may struggle to solve puzzles or input character correctly with a limited number of attempts. Time-limited procedures may also block users from accessing their accounts. Advocacy - Here be dragons 🐲 31
Why It’s easy to get lost or confused when something doesn’t operate in the expected way. Who this affects Users with issues around anxiety, processing speeds, and math or language comprehension may give up on a task or require additional assistance to complete a task. Advocacy Don’t dismiss users or testers who complain that an interface or control is confusing. 33
don’t have to learn new visual metaphors • Media is in short chunks that are less than 6 minutes so users can stay focused • Search does not include autocomplete or spell check and there is no search on exhibition site so it’s difficult to find things unless you spell them correctly • Browser back buttons work as expected so users can retrace their steps • Interface is simple so users can complete tasks without getting overwhelmed • No login is needed • Help for non-standard controls is provided 43 Example
of time what accommodations will be needed 2. Ensure that testers know it is not their fault if something goes wrong 3. Make it clear that testers are in control 4. Compensate testers
than clinical diagnoses • Break content into chunks • Make the implicit explicit • Provide help • Advocate for accessibility throughout the product life cycle • Remember that accessibility and good design go hand-in-hand • Involve everyone on the team! 49
Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities https://www.w3.org/TR/coga-usable/ W3C Web Accessibility Initiative on Diverse Abilities and Barriers https://www.w3.org/WAI/people-use-web/abilities-barriers/ WebAIM on Cognitive Disabilities https://webaim.org/articles/cognitive/ National Center on Disability and Journalism’s Disability Language Style Guide https://ncdj.org/style-guide/ Penn State Social Science Institute: Privilege plays a huge role in getting an ADHD diagnosis https://ssri.psu.edu/news/privilege-plays-huge-role-getting-adhd-diagnosis Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Race Differences in the Age at Diagnosis Among Medicaid-Eligible Children With Autism https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(09)60739-5/fulltext
2021) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ WCAG 2.1 (current international standard) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ Deque University - web accessibility training and courses https://dequeuniversity.com/ International Association of Accessibility Professionals - training and certification https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/ On the Trouble with accessibility overlays https://shouldiuseanaccessibilityoverlay.com/ https://overlayfactsheet.com/
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