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Cog-a11y 1/2 Research

Essential background informations about cognitive accessibility and a requirements analysis achieved through questioning affected useres and examining guidelines.

Essentials

The abbreviation Cog means cognitive and a11y is a numeronym which stands for accessibility. The term cognitive comes from cognition, the ability of the brain to process information. Cognitive accessibility is the "least understood and least discussed type of disability among web developers" even though "there are far more users with cognitive disabilities than all the other types of disabilities combined". (source: Cognitive Disabilities Part 1 Copyright © 1999-2020 WebAIM)

Thesis

This series is an extract of my bachelor thesis with the objective to implement cognitive web accessibility for a specific group of affected users. I decided to limit the test persons to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) sufferers because symptoms are well testable and it is a commonly known (but misunderstood) disorder. I gained access to affected persons through self-help groups that was setup by a central association. There is also a Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force (COGA TF) at the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) that is concerned with user research on ADHD and other disorders like Autism. It develops draft proposed guidance and techniques that will influence and extend recommendations like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WAI is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is an international community for developing web standards.

ADHD

ADHD is a mental disorder that manifests itself mainly at the cognitive and behavioural level and is associated with significant challenges and impairments. All age groups are affected and "it is estimated that about 2-3% of all adults have ADHD". Three characteristic symptoms can be identified:

  • "inattention: limited ability to concentrate, limited constant attention, increased distractibility
  • hyperactivity: general restlessness, increased urge to move
  • impulsivity: lack of cognitive and emotional impulse control, inconsiderate action"
(source: Allgemeine Infos zu ADHS Copyright © zentrales-adhs-netz)

Inattention caused by limited ability to concentrate and increased distractibility is the symptom which can be addressed. Examples of inattention are:

  • details are overlooked or not perceived
  • easy distraction by insignificant stimuli
  • instead of routines more impulsive and abrupt change

W3C Personalization

The WAI Personalization Task Force is working on a method where websites can be developed and designed in a way that they can be personalized to the needs of each user. This method offers for example the possibility to exchange symbols/icons so that every website shows predefined ones. "For testing and demonstration purposes is currently the data- HTML attribute syntax used." (source: Personalization Semantics Explainer 1.0. Copyright© 2020 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang))

The W3C Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group is working on Media Queries Level 5 which detect the globally set preferences of the users. User preference media features are:

  • "inverted-colors
  • prefers-reduced-motion
  • prefers-reduced-transparency
  • prefers-contrast
  • prefers-color-scheme
  • forced-colors"
(source: Media Queries Level 5 Editor’s Draft. Copyright© 2020 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang))

Requirements analysis

- coming soon -

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