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How We Can Begin To Design For Cognitive Disabilities

Speaker: Tolu Adegbite
Twitter: @tolu_xyz

What's cognitive disability?

  • It's a term used to group a large group of disabilities.

Terms

  • Neurotypical: describe individuals of typical developmental, intellectual, and cognitive abilitie
  • Neurodivergent: ADHD, Asperger, Alzheimer, Medication usage, brain fog

Cognitive disability

  • It's the most common disability
  • It's often overlooked
  • 1 Billion people on the world, deal with this disability

Current State of WCAG

  • What is simple language?
  • What is simple layout?
  • Guidelines are typically Level AAA

What do to today?

  • Language
    • Use Descriptive Page Tiles Define what's on the page. Sets the stage
    • What's a page title? <title>. Developer's responsible for. Designers / Authors should be aware for.
    • Use Page Title - Website name. Example: <title>Page title - Website name</title>
    • Define what you mean when it's not possible to keep things simple.
      • Use tooltips
      • Add definition or more description text.
      • Add access to the definition of the terms.
  • Cognitive Load
    • how much memory should a user have to use a page.
    • Do not require users to remember information
      • Example: use placeholder text on input fields instead of labels (Facebook login page)
      • As the forms become larger, this requires users to remember more information
    • Add hints to indicate what fields are required
    • Add hints to indicate password rules
  • Give users access to Copy & Paste
    • Typically not kept in mind when testing products
    • Allow autocomplete
    • Requires less memorization
  • Don't force users to do unnecessary tasks
    • Example: ask users to use double security checks (user needs to jump to another app or email)
    • Allow users to copy / paste
    • Disclose what's going to happen before hand
  • Avoid Infinite Scroll
    • Encourage users to keep scrolling, it's adictive
    • Instead, include pagination, include load more button
  • Avoid page refresh
  • Use common patterns & existing mental models
    • For example use the typical video player, instead of reinventing the wheel
  • Use accessibility videos & images
    • don't autoplay
    • close captions
    • allow forward & rewind
    • include alt text
  • Label your icons
    • Some designers believe they shouldn't do this
    • it doesn't hurt your users
    • consider more than just the aesthetics
  • Layouts
    • use whitespace liberally
      • Means: use it as a tool
      • Use it to draw attention to certain spaces on the page
      • Use it to group content
      • Use it to separate content
    • divide complex tasks into shorter, easier steps
      • use progressive disclousure
    • Example: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/
  • Testing
    • with a variety of users
    • consider to test with neurodivergent users
  • Hire people with neurodivergency