ADD Comments from a D201 Student

Hi everyone, what follows is a message from a student in my D201
accessibility course, who has ADD.  One of the reading assignments
is the "how people use the web" draft, and she has specific
comments on how difficult she found it to read.  In addition, she
has comments on the user interface for the online course.

--Kynn


ADD Problem:  TOO MUCH TOO FAST

One of the required reading urls is an excellent example of something
that is *very* difficult for someone with Attention Deficit.

The URL: http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/Overview.html

If you look at the article, there are links throughout the text as
examples of common problems for the disabled.  However, for someone
with ADD, this makes it extremely difficult to keep focused on the
topic at hand:  there is just too much too fast.  You are reading
along and see a link so you click it which takes you to a different
page.  People without ADD can do this and come back and continue
reading.

Someone who has Attention deficit gets lost and confused *very*
easily going back and forth among the pages just to complete a
sentence.  It is a nightmare to keep up with it all to say the
least.

A better way:  put the example in a special section at the *end*
of the thought, not a link in the middle of the sentence.

Also, making the page printable is very helpful:  it takes the
distraction of being able to click out of the picture.

In fact, *this* web site [the course web site] has too many
different places to store information:  It'd be easier for me to
see all the reading material on one page under different topics
instead of having to go to different pages to get all the
information.

For example:
Read
Chapters 1 & 4
Hands On
1.  Disable the Javascript
2.  bla
3.  bla
Additional Resources
1.  URL
2.  URL 
3.  URL
News Articles
URL 
Review Questions
1.
2. 
3.

That way, all the information is in one place, and I don't have to
dig for it.  The key to it is:  THERE IS A PROCESS TO FOLLOW.

The more a person with ADD has to dig, the more likely he/ she is
to get lost.  It is incredible frustrating:  there *must* be a clear
process to go through.


-- 
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                http://kynn.com/
Technical Developer Liaison, Reef             http://www.reef.com/
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet   http://idyllmtn.com/
Online Instructor, Accessible Web Design     http://kynn.com/+d201

Received on Thursday, 4 October 2001 14:58:45 UTC