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Comment LC-1021: Comment Shortname:; Commenter: Gian Sampson-Wild <gian@tkh.com.au>; Message-id:; Section of the document concerned:

or; Refinement of the section concerned:; Status:
assigned to; Type:; Resolution status:
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Commenter's response (URI):; Comment:
Cognitive disabilities - People with cognitive disabilities are unfairly discriminated against within WCAG2. I believe this is due to the usability and testability requirements. It is generally accepted (and one chair has said so explicitly) that requirements that assist people with cognitive disabilities are often general usability techniques. Criteria that assist people with cognitive disabilities is more likely to fall foul of the requirement for testability than other criteria, simply because these criteria recommend changes to the way content is written, not how a site is coded. For example, in WCAG1 Checkpoint 14.1 - Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content - still has no clear equivalent in WCAG2 and partiallymaps to Level 3success criteria.

Proposed Change:

Set up a specific taskforce within WCAG WG to identify success criteria that should be added to ensure WCAG2 addresses the needs of people with cognitive disabilities (I volunteer to be a part of, or to head up, this taskforce), or comply with Lisa Seeman's suggestions in her formal objection (which I have cosigned); Related issues: (space separated ids); WG Notes: [TEAMB] [cog-remove] Discussed in the 01 March 2007 telecon: Accepted by unanimous consent. http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2007/03/01-wai-wcag-minutes.html {not-accept}; Resolution: We have added language to the Introduction, the Conformance section, and the Quick Reference to highlight the fact that WCAG 2 only addresses some of the needs of people with cognitive, learning, and language disabilities, and to call out the need for more research in this area. WAI is exploring ways in which to support and encourage work in this important area. We have added some best practices for cognitive, learning, and language disabilities as advisory techniques, and we have proposed 3 new success criteria in this area.; (Please make sure the resolution is adapted for public consumption)