Cognitive and learning disabilities impact how people process
information. For example, they can affect people’s perception, memory,
language, attention, problem solving, and comprehension. Terminology
for categories and conditions varies, and includes intellectual
disabilities, developmental disabilities; attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, dementia, dyslexia, and more.
Technology provides opportunities for people to interact with content
and to process information in ways that are more usable to them. For
example, people can: navigate web content using different strategies
access information in text, audio, or other formats change the
presentation of the content according to their individual needs or
preferences. There are many things that designers and developers can
do to: avoid accessibility barriers that exclude people from using
their products, optimize the user experience of people with cognitive
and learning disabilities.
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For completely blind users who rely on speech-to-text or screen
readers, a “very simple thing that developers can do is go through a
website with free [open-source] software,” such as NonVisual Desktop
Access (NVDA), “which is a free screen reader, and just see if you can
navigate your website using just a keyboard, because that's what
screen reader users use,” explains Rickard. “And see, for example, if
you have images on your website, are they descriptive to someone using
a screen reader? Oftentimes, people forget that piece.”
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People are watching more video content than ever, but d/Deaf and hard
of hearing users can be left behind if videos aren’t designed for
accessibility. Adding captions helps people with hearing impairments
follow the entire thread of your video, not just what’s on screen.
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