Cognitive Disability
"A disability involving a person's capacity for processing information and knowledge is categorized as a cognitive disability." (Paciello, 2000, p. 375) Cognitive disability is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of conditions including traumatic brain injuries, developmental delays, or autism. In some cases, learning disabilities are grouped with cognitive disabilities.
WebAim (Cognitive Disabilities Introduction) recommended thinking of cognitive disabilities in terms of functional disabilities and ignoring the medical or behavioral causes of the disability. Focusing on the resulting abilities and challenges may be more helpful in addressing potential users' needs. Some of the main categories of functional cognitive disabilities include deficits or difficulties with:
- Memory
- Problem-solving
- Attention
- Reading, linguistic, and verbal comprehension
- Math comprehension
- Visual comprehension
Accessibility and Cognitive Disability
WebAim drafted a list of recommended strategies for improving sites for users with cognitive impairments. The strategies suggested ideas to make the site more "transformable" such as allowing fonts or images to be enlarged and "multi-modal" such as offering information in more than one form (e.g., captioned video). They also suggested strategies for focusing the user's attention on the content, designing a site that was consistent, clear and concise and allowed recovery from errors. (WebAim. Cognitive Disabilities Part 1)
Resources
For more information on cognitive disabilities:
- Hudson, R., Weakley, R. & Firminger, P. (2005). An Accessibility Frontier: Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties. Available at http://www.usability.com.au/resources/cognitive.cfm
- Rowland, C. (2004). Cognitive Disabilities Part 2: Conceptualizing Design Considerations. Available at http://www.webaim.org/articles/cognitive/conceptualize/
- WebAim. Cognitive Disabilities Part 1: We Still Know Too Little, and We Do Even Less. Available at http://www.webaim.org/articles/cognitive/cognitive_too_little/
- WebAim. Cognitive Disabilities Introduction. Available at http://www.webaim.org/articles/cognitive/
