Mindful designs: Practical tips for designing for cognitive & learning difficulties
Did you know that about 16% of Australians have dyslexia? That’s about 3.6 million people…and that’s just dyslexia!
As UX designers, do we really know our audiences, and do we fully appreciate how some might experience things differently to others? What are we doing to design for the broad range of experiences and abilities of our users?
Designing for people with cognitive and learning disabilities is one of the most overlooked areas within the design and accessibility fields. Part of the reason is that there is a huge range of abilities and conditions, and they are often difficult to understand.
While there is some information out there, the furiously changing pace of technology and our hectic schedules as UX designers often do not give us the time to delve into the research, or we may not be aware of how general inclusive design principles can be applied in this context.
This presentation will:
- Bust some cognitive and learning difficulties myths
- Explore some of the user experience challenges with using the web that people with these difficulties may have
- Arm you with as many inclusive design principles and real life examples that we can fit into the 20 minute slot
Many of the design principles will be well known and common sense, but reframing it in context of cognitive and learning disabilities will hopefully help you to realise that inclusive design is achievable, in many cases quite simple, and not too scary.
Resources
- Cognitive Disability simulation by WebAIM (requires Flash)
- Standards.Next rocking cognition and accessibility
- Cognitive Disabilities Part 1: We Still Know Too Little, and We Do Even Less, by Paul Bohman, 2004.
- Designing for Dyslexics – Part 1
- Designing for Dyslexics – Part 2
- Designing for Dyslexics – Part 3
