Situational Disability
Situational disabilities are not physiological or pathological. They occur when a person is unable to "relate with a source of information" (Dursteler, 2000). For example, a person can be situationally deaf in a very noisy environment. They can have experience visual difficulties when using a very small screen such as a PDA. They can have motor difficulties if they do not have enough space to move a mouse (Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas) One Swedish company also points out that accessibility is important to because "anyone may experience 'situational disabilities' in situations of stress, tiredness or technology intimidation..." (Funk Nu).
Accessibility and Situational Disabilities
In general, situational disabilities are improved by accessible design and development practices. If information is made available for users with visual, hearing, motor disabilities etc., then the information is likely to be available for situations that create temporary visual, hearing, or motor disabilities.
Captioning is one of the most common examples of an approach that also is used for situational disabilities. The technique of captioning is intended for those who have hearing impairments and cannot hear audio content. However, captioning is also helpful and frequently used in noisy environments.
Resources
For more information on situational disabilities:
- Dursteler, J. C. (2000). Accessibility: Pending subject. Inf@Vis. A digital Magazine of Info.net. Available at http://www.infovis.net/printMag.php?num=10&lang=2
- Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH). Institute of Computer Science. Computer accessibility. Available at http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/ua-games/background.html
- Funk Nu. Accessibility. Available at http://www.funkanu.se/start.asp?sida=950
