Cognable

Accessibility

Web Accessibility References

Whizzo On Trial
Transcript of a 2008 talk at INMD by Kevin Carey (Chair of HumanITy and RNIB).
The context of this talk related to the user-testing activities developer participants were about to undertake with groups of intellectually disabled users, though it covered a much wider group. Kevin challenged many received wisdoms in respect of current Web accessibility practice, noting that there is often little understanding of disability demographics amongst accessibility experts and that basic assumptions in respect of Web design and usability evaluation are frequently flawed. Most surprising for the audience was probably the statistic that even in the UK, where Internet availability is relatively high, less than 10 percent of blind people use a screen reader to access the Web. Looking at the demographics in terms of age and disability, it also became clear that the vast majority of accessibility guidelines such as WCAG are only relevant to a small section of the disabled population.

Inclusive New Media Design
Output from a 2 year research project looking at the barriers to accessible design experienced by accessibility-committed Web professionals which had a particular focus on intellectual disabled audiences. The project also coincided with the final drafting of WCAG 2.0 and some interesting perspectives on this work from developers and designers emerged. A critical part of the project centred on bringing a range of professionals from design, development and information architecture roles together with several groups of intellectually disabled user-testers.

Inclusion Of Cognitive Disabilities in the Web Accessibility Movement - Lisa Seeman, UB Access.
This paper explores the attitude and accomplishments towards including Cognitive Disabilities within the Web Accessibility movement. It then suggests practical steps that could be taken to increase the usefulness of Web Accessibility for the Cognitively Disabled.

Developing sites for users with Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties - Juicy Studio.
This article by Roger Hudson, Russ Weakley, and Peter Firminger, examines the types of problems visitors may encounter when using the web, with insightful and practical suggestions on how to develop websites that are inclusive for people with cognitive impairments and learning difficulties.

An Accessibility Frontier: Cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties - Hudson, Weakley and Firminger.
....the needs of the largest disability group in our community, those with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties, appear to have slipped through the cracks to a large extent when it comes to website accessibility.

Assessing the reading comprehension of adults with learning disabilities
Jones, F., Long, K. and Finlay, W., 2006. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 50(6), pp.410-18.
Text and language usage online is the greatest barrier to Web accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities - in fact the baseline reading level set by WCAG 2.0 even at Level AAA [3.1.5 Reading Level] actually excludes upto 20% of the general UK population, not just the 2% or so with intellectual disabilities. This study produced some interesting results, suggesting that even functionally literate adults with borderline intellectual disabilities have a far lower reading comprehension age than might be expected, peaking within primary school levels and with median reading comprehension ages in the 6-7 years range.

Accessible Website Content Guidelines for Users with Intellectual Disabilities
Karreman, J., van der Geest, T. and Buursink, E., 2007. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 20(6), pp.510-18.
Some suggested techniques for the development of Easy Read content which was user-tested by a small sample group with intellectual disabilities

Making the Internet accessible for people with cognitive and communication Impairments.
Poulson, D. and Colette, N., 2004. Universal Access in the Information Society , 3(1), pp.1615-5297.
Call for more guidance and standards addressing the access needs of intellectually disabled Web users with particular focus on symbol use. Output from the World Wide Augmentative and Alternative Communication project.

Web Accessibility for People with Cognitive Disabilities
Small, J., Schallau, P., Brown, K. and Appleyard, R., 2005. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems : CHI 2005. NY, 2005. ACM.
A pilot study user-testing WCAG (1.0) Compliant Websites with intellectually disabled people. Unsurprisingly the sites were inaccessible to user-testers, but the paper also considers how Web content guidelines might better serve this audience.

Communication and Empowerment: A Place for Rich and Multiple Media?
Bunning, K., Heath, B. and Minnion, A., 2009. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities., 22(4), pp.370-79.
Paper coming out of a project I worked on for 2 years prototyping an accessible learning platform for intellectually disabled students. In particular the paper considers the usefulness to young people with intellectual disabilities of creating and using rich media in their communication and self-advocacy.

Web accessibility design recommendations for people with cognitive disabilities
G. Friedman, M. and Bryen, D., 2007. Technology and Disability, 19(4), pp.205-12.
A broad literature review summarising 20 sets of accessibility guidelines for people with intellectual disability gathered both from published articles and organisational Web sites. Guidelines were collated and combined to produce a weighted list of approaches to accessible design for this audience - although some guidelines were also related to scholastic and generic cognitive disabilities, rather than intellectual disabilities in isolation.

Formal Objection to WCAG 2.0 raised during the drafting of WCAG 2.0 in respect of failure to address the needs of Web users with intellectual, learning and other cognitive disabilities. This was signed by thirty-some organisations and individuals working with cognitively disabled people in Web and new media related areas. Though it didn't lead to a change of direction in respect of the Normative Guidance, it did at least put aside notions of universal accessibility in the document and resulted in the inclusion of an (ever-shrinking) acknowledgement that a very large number of disabled users are still excluded by the scope and nature of WCAG 2.0

Am I Making Myself Clear? is a document from Mencap concerned with accessible writing for people with intellectual and learning disabilities. This guidance is referenced by the PAS78 Web Accessibility Guidance from BSI in the UK.