Should neurodiversity be considered when considering accessibility?

Yes. 

Conversations about accessibility are often focused on people with vision, hearing, and mobility impairments. There are many barriers for these groups of people, in the physical world and online. Digital spaces and content aren't created with disabled people in mind. This group includes people who are physically disabled as well as people who are neurodivergent (ND), however conversations about accessibility online often leave out the challenges faced by ND individuals. 

When considering accessibility, it is important to consider humans’ broad range of neurodiversity, and how you can make your business accessible to everyone. People who are neurodivergent have brains that work in ways different from what society would consider typical or “neurotypical”. 

Neurodivergence can include differences in cognition, communication, social skills, and behavior. Under the ND umbrella are:

• Autism
• ADHD 
• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia
• Dyscalculia 

Aspiritech’s team of autistic testers represent a broad range of neurodivergence. Their lived experiences plus training make them exceptionally adept at identifying all kinds of accessibility barriers when they test websites, apps, and devices. 

Fifteen to twenty percent of the entire population are neurodivergent. Yet, every person’s experience is unique. ND people can experience different cognitive variations in various severities, often in executive functioning and cognition areas. Some features include: 

• Memory problems, including forgetfulness and poor working memory 
• Processing speed
• Difficulty maintaining attention
• Impulsivity
• Issues with time management
• Difficulty with letters and language, numbers, symbols, and math
• Sensory processing difficulties and sensory overload
• Understanding and making choices 

Neurotypical individuals can also have situational or temporary cognitive impairments brought on by stress, lack of sleep, illness, or loud, distracting environments.      

How can we address the accessibility issues in the digital space while keeping everyone in mind?

The executive functioning difficulties mentioned above can create hurdles when navigating the web, using mobile devices, reading content, or playing video games. Just because conditions under the ND umbrella are often invisible doesn’t mean neurodivergent people don’t experience barriers on the web or with digital content. Here are a few examples that can create poor user experiences, for both neurodivergent and neurotypical users:

• A recipe blog with excessive text to scroll through before the recipe
• A website cluttered with auto-playing ads, carousels, or other multimedia that can’t be stopped
• Lack of consistent, predictable navigation or breadcrumbs to help the person orient to where they are on the site 
• A time-sensitive check-out page
• A long form that doesn’t allow the user to save progress and return later
• A video game that doesn’t have waypoints, map markers, or quest logs to help the player focus on specific objectives 
• An app that utilizes many bright colors that distract from the content
• Someone who “stims” (Stimming: What it is and why Autistic people do it) might shake their phone or mouse, or swipe their screen and accidentally activate functionality on their device/app
• Certain fonts and long blocks of text can be difficult for people with Dyslexia to read  

Accessibility isn’t a one size fits all. Making your website, app, or digital content accessible to some can often help everyone. Some of the common approaches for users who are blind, d/Deaf, or have mobility issues will also help neurodivergent users: 

• Delivering content in multiple formats - text, video/audio, images, etc. 
• Meeting color contrast guidelines 
• Avoiding GIFs or auto-playing content - if you use it, use it sparingly, don’t have it loop, and provide a way to pause, stop, or hide that content 
• Providing captions and transcripts for video and audio content
• Using plain language and avoiding jargon 
• Using proper headings 
• Including alt text on images

While these approaches are necessary and help a broad range of people, including neurodivergence in conversations around accessibility will only bring about innovations that will make the web and content more usable and accessible to a wider range of people. 

Unfortunately, there is limited research on how to design with neurodivergent people in mind, which makes it essential to consult with people who have lived experience. Getting feedback from people who encounter specific barriers is the best way to begin closing gaps.

Julia Opalinski, female autistic QA Analyst at Aspiritech explains that “Digital accessibility for neurodivergent people means having reasonable access to digital devices that can themselves be modified—with minimal difficulty—so that they can be utilized most effectively for neurodivergent people. Web spaces that aren't designed in such a way that they are more likely to cause/contribute to meltdowns and sensory overload.”

Aspiritech’s team of accessibility testers approaches every project through the lens of their lived experience. This allows us to go beyond the standards in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and provide a complete picture of your product’s usability and user experience. By working with individuals with lived experiences of specific barriers, you are helping to close the gap within digital accessibility.

Aspiritech tests for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Success Criteria and will share more about how it applies to neurodiversity. Check out Cognitive Accessibility at W3C and Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities for more information.

More resources about neurodiversity:

• “Autism is a Spectrum” Doesn’t Mean What You Think
• Neurodiversity: Some Basic Terms & Definitions
• NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
• The Social Model of Disability: How this aligns with the neurodiversity paradigm
• Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage

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A note on language: People prefer different language to refer to their disabilities. While some prefer identity-first language, such as disabled person or autistic person. Others prefer person-first language such as person with a disability or person on the spectrum. In an effort to respect individual preferences, Aspiritech uses both options in our language.