RE: Draft response for review

Hi Rachael (and All),

In the last item addressed, “brain blindness” may be in our area, not the LVTF’s. I say that because it is a cognitive issue, not a visual one. For an example, see the paradoxically-named article, “This man can't see numbers. But his brain can.<https://www.livescience.com/nueroscience-patient-who-can-not-see-numbers.html>”

John

John Rochford
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
Director, INDEX Program
Faculty, Family Medicine & Community Health
www.DisabilityInfo.org
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From: Rachael Bradley Montgomery <rachael@accessiblecommunity.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 1:06 PM
To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: Draft response for review

Hello,

Please review the response below and let me know what changes are needed.

Best regards,

Rachael

***

Dear Amanda and  Emma,


Thank you for taking the time to review and comment on Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities (Content Usable). Please see our responses in bold to your comments broken out below.


With thanks,


The Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Task Force


1. We have found trust of the device or system to be integral. This could translate to the importance of technologies that communicate safe or unsafe sites to visit.


Content Usable focuses on content rather than systems and devices. We appreciate this and related comments because they let us know we need to better the scope 4.5.11 in content usable as well as the document as a whole. And the scope within the context of a full system.

From a content standpoint, we believe we have partially addressed trust within 4.5.11 Pattern: Keep Users' Information Safe and Help Users Understand Known Risks.


There might be technologies that help users understand what is safe or unsafe Sites would be an API or add on, that the user chooses to add. As such it can be supported by the pattern: Enable APIs and Extensions.  We have not integrated this concept yet but would like to do so. <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2FTR%2Fcoga-usable%2F%23pattern-enable-apis-and-extensions&data=02%7C01%7Cjohn.rochford%40umassmed.edu%7C19d6a007881e48ea666108d83898cce4%7Cee9155fe2da34378a6c44405faf57b2e%7C0%7C0%7C637321576232317815&sdata=LWqiqkjqeBpFbY3GXwWDjGcwmOUbkyX2NbrOI%2B1%2Bd7I%3D&reserved=0> Would you please send us the research you are referencing so we can add this?


2.  Some of our participants put all of their payments on auto-pay so as not to forget a bill payment and then they just verify their credit card.



We think there is a potential gap here but it would help us if you could share research and more details about this topic. Additional examples within a website context would also be helpful. Also, is there a location in the document that you specifically are referencing?


3.  Individuals have shared that when a screen is not visible, it is essentially gone for them. Therefore, seeing all possible documents at once is important to reduce confusion as opposed to folders.


We would like to take this into consideration and explore how to fit it in. Would you please send the research you are referencing? Additional examples within a website context would also be helpful.


4.  Relatedly, spatial representations can be very important for technology use. For example, we have spoken to people that use spatial representations on their desktops as a sort of filing system.


We have created issues #136 to address this. If you have any additional research we can reference that would be helpful. Thank you for pointing out this gap.


5. Everything that the document notes for MCI could be said for people with dementia as well, only magnified.  In terms of the characteristics of dementia, we think that the following

points are important to include:

  *   It is great that the report describes the different types of dementia.
  *      Though there is tremendous variability even within a condition, it may be important to note that different types of dementia can affect individuals differently and uniquely (Meiland et al. 2017; Scherer et al. 2012).ough cognitive changes are the most common changes discussed with dementia, there is an emerging understanding of the other kinds of changes that people experience, that will surely impact their technology use. Many  of the points below come from a document (attached) written by a dementia advocate:


While we are trying to ensure these patterns support individuals with a wide range of cognitive and learning disabilities, we are trying to avoid a deep discussion of disability in this document. Thank you very much for sending these references.We have an evolving process that moves from gathering and documenting research to the published version of Content Usable. We plan to publish an update each year.   We will integrate this research back into our research documentation with the intent of adding it to Content Usable in the next update.


6. Sensitivity to loud and complex environments (overloaded by over stimulus) often with heightened sensitivity to sound


And


7. Avoid busy patterns because they are visually confusing


While these are partially included in 3.6 Help Users Maintain Focus they are not called out specifically. We have added issue #132 to address these


 8. “brain blindness”: where the person has capable vision but the brain

      is no longer able to process or find the right match for what they’re

      seeing. Contrast is very important because of changes in vision as a result

      of certain dementias. Color orientation is not always reliable for people with dementia  because they may associate colors differently or not understand what the

      color is meant to represent


The Low Vision Task Force and WCAG have traditionally handled this area but we have added issue #137 to revisit visual processing to ensure it is incorporated within this document.  Thank you again for the detailed review and comments

--
Rachael Montgomery, PhD
Director, Accessible Community
rachael@accessiblecommunity.org<mailto:rachael@accessiblecommunity.org>

"I will paint this day with laughter;
I will frame this night in song."
 - Og Mandino