Functional Cognitive Disabilities (DRAFT)

I have identified several categories of cognitive functioning that can have an impact on web accessibility. A person with cognitive disabilities may experience deficiencies in one or more of these categories, and there is a spectrum of ability in each of the categories, from very high functioning to very low. Note that I have not mentioned any clinical or medical conditions or diagnoses as a part of this list. The reason for this omission is because the functional limitations, or challenges, often are more relevant to the design of web content. Clinical conditions are not always good predictors of a person's cognitive abilities, due to the wide variance between people with the same conditions. If you have any suggestions or feedback on this list, please contact me.

Memory

(e.g. short term memory loss, and/or other memory deficits)

Attention

(e.g. difficulty concentrating, focusing, or paying attention; impulse control deficits;)

Problem-Solving and Tolerance for Change

(e.g. difficulty recovering from errors; difficulty figuring out new or unexpected situations; low threshold for cognitive overload)

Abstraction, Inference, & Deduction Logic

(e.g. difficulty with non-literal language and/or concepts, including metaphors, puns, sarcasm, etc.; difficulty discerning implied meaning; difficulty comprehending logical reasoning; difficulty identifying the main point of the content)

Calculation Logic

(e.g. difficulty with mathematical procedures, operations, logical sequences, and/or computations)

Sensory Perception & Encoding

(e.g. deficiencies in the brain's ability to perceive and/or encode information received through vision and/or hearing, including difficulties in assimilating or accommodating the information into a person's knowledge sets, cognitive schema, mental models, etc.)

Text and Language Processing

(e.g. limited vocabulary; the tendency to confuse words and/or characters [as in some forms of dyslexia]; difficulties in associating words with their meanings or to understand sentence construction [as in some forms of aphasia], etc.)

Task Sequencing and Completion

(e.g. difficulty understanding, initiating and/or following multi-step procedures)

Orientation, Spatial, and Contextual Awareness

(e.g. narrow focus; difficulty understanding or being aware of the larger context; not understanding that something may be partially or fully obscured from view and/or not realizing how to reveal hidden objects or information)

Conceptual Organization

(e.g. difficulty in recognizing, forming, or discriminating between mental groupings of ideas, items, facts, etc.)

Cognitive Speed

(slow thought processes)

Psychosocial Development

(Childlike tendencies; behaviors possibly regarded as “immature”)

Intellectual Confidence

(e.g. lack of faith or trust in one's cognitive abilities)