Questions and comments about cognitive accessibility during Axecon sessions

Hi,
I attended Rain’s excellent session, as well as one by Tolu Adegbite. Both covered cognitive accessibility.

I noticed the comments and questions might be helpful as we consider:

  *   Language to use when writing our resources
  *   Information to consider: people are searching for answers to these questions, or hoping to find it when they come to our resources
  *   And, potential edge cases or research we should consider pursuing.

I checked with the conference organizers before posting here, and it is ok to share this on the list (doesn’t violate Axecon code of conduct).

Note: I did not edit any of these unless noted in parentheses. I separated each with a single space.
Questions and comments from Rain’s session

Where do you get the timer she showed? (Time Timer)



Can anyone join COGA if you have a learning disability? Or do you have to be selected/invited? An attendee named Maya shared the link to the community group: https://www.w3.org/community/coga-community/




Am surprised this COGA presentation has black text on white background which makes it really hard for people with dyslexia, irlen syndrome, etc.

Any thoughts on long COVID prevalence impacting the world of cognitive accessibility design?



How do you balance the need to be thorough with documentation but also wanting to make the COGA usable doc accessible for those who have cognitive disabilities?



Does a guide/checklist exist for training designers/developers that list the functional needs and offers example solutions for each?



I have heard that some people with cognitive disabilities utilize screen readers, even if they have vision. Can you give examples of these uses?



What are some tips you would give to designers or UX writers working in industries that use a lot of jargons like finance or insurance?



Are those good practices or could all this be part of WCAG success criteria? (that's a question clients and organizations will probably ask me)



How do you push for fixes for cognitive accessibility barriers when many are not clearly included in WCAG success criterion?



Are COGA standards intended as a new part of the WCAG standards? Are they enforceable by the ADA?



Oh my goodness, yes pick up misspellings in search and it will save me so much time, recently had to look up Huguenots in online archives and I misspelt it every time and got so frustrated!



Also responding about the screen readers. I don't have a visual disability exactly but I get migraines and eye pain from too much eye strain so I will opt to use a screen reader to rest my eyes.



I love content outlines, but please let me hide them, so I can actually read the content without getting distracted or using lots of energy trying to shut it out!



Do fonts come into play for clear visual presentation? or at any other point? If yes, how do fonts impact users with cognitive challenges?

Questions and comments from Tolu’s session

How would you go about ensuring language is simple but not belittling to the user?



How do you convince legal and compliance departments to write at a grade 8 level?



What about when page titles are creative to attract the audience but then how is that descriptive?



Does this include people with developmental or intellectual disabilities I/DD?



Forms where some field labels are above the field and other field labels are below the field.



Can you expand on why disabled buttons are overused? What alternatives should be explored?



Would you suggest using the aria disabled cue over always having a button be enabled and showing error states for required fields?



I came out of a conference this year where they challenged us to no longer use the term "disabled button" because we are further pushing the stimga that disabled means "does not work". We now use "Inactive Button" in our team.



In the case where you have the disabled button with the tool tip to indicate what they user needs to do, how would you handle that on mobile?



I'm always looking for ways to improve disabled state on components and that was a great example of how to show WHY the element was disabled!



I have an "alert" icon in a header that displays a number when there are alerts. If there are none, is it better to hide that icon or to show it (greyed out)?



Is there any research that shows copy/paste field options aren't a security risk? Would be useful for convincing devs to enable copy/paste options.



For tasks requiring verification on apps, where security is important because, for example, health and personal data, what could be an accessible alternative?



Can you talk more about how you'd recommend designing for disabled buttons? Would the hint text appear if someone tries to select the disabled button?



Do you have a suggestion for a new "save" icon that isn't a floppy disk that no one under about 30 year old has ever used?



Are requesting cover letters accessible? Or would it be easier to ask a question and have them answer that as their cover letter? What are your thoughts



Re: "I have an "alert" icon in a header that displays a number when there are alerts. If there are none, is it better to hide that icon or to show it (greyed out)?" using color only to indicate meaning is a WCAG 2.0 AA violation.



As a researcher, I'd love some question types that help me identify whether something is a large cognitive load. What are some good ways of getting to that?



What process you use to make sure to include these principles you spoke about in your design ?



How do you protect people with cognitive disabilities from being discriminated against in the workspace?



You mentioned testing designs with neurodivergent participants, what are some methodologies for doing this? Time on task, interviewing/qualitative, think aloud



How do you work w/designers that won't use icon labels etc. b/c it's "cleaner/less cluttered" even when you bring up the accessibility issues?



As a researcher, I'd love some question types that help me identify whether something is a large cognitive load. What are some good ways of getting to that?



How do you protect people with cognitive disabilities from discrimination in the workspace? How do we normalize their participation versus others performers?  (edited)



Could you recommend any tools to help check simple language?



how do we test langue on websites?



How might the hiring process be accessible for a knowledge worker, like a software engineer, with a cognitive disability?



For great examples of plain language summaries, check out Lainey Feingold's website, for example https://www.lflegal.com/2021/04/winn-dixie-appeal/




(Several added into the chat HemingwayApp.com)



https://app.readable.com/text/https://www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/https://www.thegoodlineheight.com/<https://app.readable.com/text/https:/www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/https:/www.thegoodlineheight.com/>



This could be a useful website for legal language and writing in plain language: https://www.plainlanguage.gov/resources/content-types/legal-profession/




https://www.thegoodlineheight.com/




https://www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/




https://app.readable.com/text/




For legal terms, CLEO created a great resource: https://cleoconnect.ca/tools-tips/creating-good-legal-information/clear-language-and-design-tips/




As you said, cognitive disability is a nebulous term. How might we recruit test participants to get feedback on our designs?



Writer has a free Figma plugin that can give your writing a readability score.



In libraries, public and academia, do you think more layman's terms should be used on library websites? I want more accessibility for our resources  (edited)



Figma has a FREE for educators version! https://www.figma.com/education/




https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/industry/commissioner-guidance/guidance-3.html




What are you recommendations for good practice in writing descriptive calls to actions / link names?



Another cognitive dissonance issue I have is with interactive features which disappear when you are not hovered over where they would be. Disappearing scroll bars are the devil!



https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/passwords/updating-your-approach from UK National Cyber Security Centre has great advice on passwords



Do you know where I could find research you mentioned on allowing copy paste?



Where would be a good place to find neurodivergent test participants?


Jennie Delisi
Accessibility Analyst | Office of Accessibility
Minnesota IT Services | Partners in Performance
658 Cedar Street
St. Paul, MN 55155
O: 651-201-1135
Information Technology for Minnesota Government | mn.gov/mnit<http://mn.gov/mnit>
[Minnesota IT Services Logo]
[Facebook logo]<https://www.facebook.com/MN.ITServices>[LinkedIn logo]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/minnesota-it-services/>[Twitter logo]<https://twitter.com/mnit_services>