2. Introduction

Making web sites and applications usable by people with cognitive and learning disabilities affects every part of design and development.

Traditionally, accessibility focused on making the interface usable for people with sensory and physical impairments (vision, hearing, or mobility). Some accessibility features will help people with cognitive and learning disabilities. Often the issues that affect people with cognitive and learning disabilities include:

Some common designs create barriers for people with cognitive and learning disabilities. The patterns presented in this document have been designed to avoid such barriers for people with cognitive and learning disabilities. While this guidance may improve usability for all, these patterns are essential for some people with cognitive and learning impairments to be able to use content independently.

The objectives and patterns build on the:

The objectives and patterns presented here provide supplemental guidance beyond the requirements of WCAG. Following this guidance is not required for conformance to WCAG. They address accessibility barriers that were not included in the current normative WCAG 2.x and may not otherwise be addressed.

Following the advice in this document, as much as possible, will be particularly valuable for web content and applications that address:

Note that people with cognitive and learning disabilities may also have other impairments such as motor disabilities or visual impairments. For example, some people with age related forgetfulness may also require higher contrast. It is always important to follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG [WCAG22] and ensure the needs of all disabilities are addressed.

2.1 How to Use this Document

This document provides information on the development process and design options for making web sites and applications more usable and accessible for people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

It is organized by high level objectives which are listed along with user stories in section 3.

The high-level objectives outline key design goals that will help people with cognitive and learning disabilities. Each objective has associated:

  • user needs and user stories, that show the user perspective,
  • design patterns, that show what to do,
  • personas with user scenarios, that help you to understand your users' experiences and challenges, and
  • questions for user testing.

Mappings of objectives, user stories, patterns and personas are available in Appendix A. This provides a way to understand how to address the objective and why it is important. Some people may prefer to start with Appendix A.

This document is divided into parts. Each part can be used in different ways in the product development life cycle. This will help teams achieve the objectives in this document without significantly changing the way they work.

  • Section 3. User Stories: This section contains user stories for people with cognitive and learning disabilities. Each story includes related user needs. Teams may use these in different ways. For example, teams can:
    • incorporate them into user stories, or
    • use as part of user research to help you understand your users’ needs.
  • Section 4. Design Guide: This section contains design patterns that support the objectives. Patterns are provided with rationale, how-to guidance, and examples. Teams can use design patterns in different ways, for example:
    • incorporate them into requirement specifications,
    • use in design guidelines,
    • use as solutions when users are dropping out,
    • use as inspiration for site design,
    • test designs against “use” and “avoid” examples,
    • include them in design libraries, and
    • use as content guidelines to promote easy to understand language and communication.
  • Section 5. Usability Testing, Focus Groups, and Feedback: This section provides a brief introduction to including people with cognitive and learning disabilities in user research. It also includes test questions for each objective. Content from this section can, for example, help teams:
    • involve people with cognitive and learning disabilities in user research and user testing,
    • work with peer researchers,
    • build the user into the development process, or
    • incorporate guidance to support vulnerable users.
  • Section 6. Use Cases/ Personas: This section provides personas that relate to the user stories, objectives, and design patterns presented in the rest of the document. These personas can be used in user research and developer education.

It should be noted that all teams should try to involve users with cognitive and learning disabilities throughout the design and development process. Teams that are too small for user testing and focus groups can find affordable ways to involve the user by reading Section 5.

2.1.1 Testing Each Pattern

In many cases the “use” and “avoid” examples for each pattern can be used as a testable case. The pattern is probably applied if:

  • For each pattern, a “use” example is implemented (unless it is not relevant for the content).
  • For each pattern, the items identified as “avoid” examples are avoided (unless they are necessary or essential).

There are additional ongoing efforts to make testable statements for each design pattern with corresponding test processes and failure examples, that are always applicable. These are available at Testable Statements for COGA Design Patterns.

In some cases, the testable statements only cover part of the design pattern. The Cognitive Accessibility Task Force intends to continue working on these statements as a supplement to the design guide.

One can also test that the additional advice in this document is integrated into development and design processes. For example:

  • Confirm that diverse users with cognitive and learning disabilities are included in the projects’ focus groups, research and user testing as per the advice in Section 5.
  • Confirm user needs and user stories for people with cognitive and learning disabilities are integrated into the project user needs, user stories, and requirements, as per Section 3.
  • Confirm that personas from Section 6 are integrated into the research phase of the project.
  • Confirm that the project user tests include testing for the objectives in this document as per Section 5.

2.2 Background about People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities, Accessibility and the Web

Cognitive and learning disabilities include long-term, short-term, and permanent difficulties relating to cognitive functions, such as:

  • learning, communication, reading, writing, or math,
  • ability to understand or process new or complex information and learn new skills, with a reduced ability to cope independently, and / or
  • memory and attention or visual, language, or numerical thinking.

Design, structure, and language choices can make content inaccessible to people with cognitive and learning disabilities. Examples may include:

  • People with impaired short-term memory may be unable to recall passwords or copy access codes. They may have trouble or be unable to remember new icons and interface paradigms.
  • People with impaired working memory may only be able to hold one to three items in their memory at the same time. This can make it difficult to hold information temporarily or copy access codes.
  • People with different processing speed capabilities may need additional time to understand the design relationships and information on the screen.
  • People with language related disabilities may need simple clear language and instructions. Some may rely on supporting graphics, icons, and familiar symbols to understand content.
  • People with social or communication disabilities may need clear literal language and may not understand metaphors or non-literal text and new icons.
  • People with impairments that affect the comprehension of mathematical concepts may not understand or confuse numerical references such as percentages.
  • People who have issues with keeping or regaining focus may have difficulty completing a simple task if there are a lot of distractions and interruptions. They may need headers and signposts to help them regain the context after their attention was lost (including in multimedia).
  • People with cognitive and learning disabilities that impact learning may need more support or time to complete a new process or an authentication task.
  • Many groups may struggle with cognitive fatigue when completing complex, multi-stage processes such as filling out forms or entering data correctly or finding the content or feature that they need. They will need support to minimize errors and complete their task.

These difficulties may sometimes also be experienced by the general population due to environmental or situational barriers. For example, when they are trying to use a web site when distracted or stressed. Working on a mobile device while in an unfamiliar or noisy situation can also place an additional cognitive load on users by splitting their attention. However, for users with cognitive and learning disabilities, these difficulties are likely to be persistent and significant. As a result, they may be unable to access content and complete these tasks independently.

Cognitive and learning disabilities are difficult to diagnose and categorize. They are usually hidden and can be age related. Users are less likely to have a formal diagnosis of a disability than individuals with physical and sensory difficulties. Often, only some functions are impaired while other cognitive functions are unaffected. For example, someone with dyslexia may be a fantastic engineer. Sometimes, cognitive and learning disabilities may include intellectual impairments that affect comprehension, alongside written and spoken expression. People may also experience more than one type of cognitive and learning disability. Note that the terminology and definitions used for cognitive and learning disabilities varies between countries.

Other groups who will benefit include:

  • people with mental health issues that cause cognitive difficulties, such as difficulty focusing, cognitive fatigue, or reduced memory,
  • people under a temporary stress,
  • people who do not know the language or culture of the country well,
  • people with limited technical knowledge or are new to the Web.

2.3 Building the User into the Development Process

Some aspects of making web content and applications usable by people with cognitive and learning disabilities should be dealt with as part of the overall design process. Most organizations should include scope for a user-centered design process. See our developer resource page for related resources.

Key parts of this process for people with cognitive and learning disabilities should be:

  • Including the needs of users with cognitive and learning disabilities in the context of user needs and requirements.
  • Including people with cognitive and learning disabilities in research methods such as usability testing.
  • Including people with cognitive and learning disabilities in the design and development team.

Web sites that include people with cognitive and learning disabilities in usability testing and account for their feedback will be easier to use for everyone, including people who are experiencing stress, or mental health issues. (See Section 5.)

2.4 Language Use

Language and terminology for cognitive and learning disabilities varies greatly between cultures and communities. Preferred language is also changing over time. We selected terms and defined them in the glossary for consistency within this document. We do not assert these are correct in all cases and for all groups.

When we were aware of conflicting opinions, we reached out to individuals that identify with each term. When preferences varied, we have used our best judgement to select a term based on the feedback. We have provided alternatives within the glossary definition.

When deciding on language and terminology to use when discussing cognitive and learning disabilities, we recommend reaching out to individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities to select the best terms within the specific situation and culture.