Category:Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities
Cognitive and neurological disabilities are disabilities of the nervous system including the brain and spine. They are by far the most common type of disability. They can impact all other senses, as well as the ability to move or understand information. These disabilities don't necessarily impact someone's intelligence, though they may impact their ability to express themselves.
Examples of these disabilities include:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Dementia
- Down Syndrome
- Intellectual disabilities (sometimes called "learning disabilities" or "developmental disabilities")
- Perceptual disabilities (which are also sometimes called "learning disabilities")
- Mental health disabilities including anxiety, depression, and many other disorders
- Memory impairments
- Migraines
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Seizure disorders
- Vestibular disorders
- Dyslexia
Design considerations
When we build for these barriers we need to provide:
- Clear navigation and page layouts that are easy to understand and use
- Clear and precise "plain language" instructions or explanations.
- Images, graphs, or other illustrations to highlight or reemphasize key content
- Designs that can be adapted using web browser controls or custom stylesheets.
We need to avoid:
- Moving, blinking, or flickering content and/or background audio that cannot be turned off. These things may trigger seizures or other disorders. (That doesn't mean we can't use them; it does mean we have to provide easy access to shut them off.)
Your Interactive Makes Me Sick by Eileen Web on Source outlines some of the impacts of animated scrolling and breaking the user's expectations for scrolling on users with migraines and other vestibular disorders.
Additional resources
Pages in category "Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities"
The following 7 pages are in this category, out of 7 total.