Cognitive Web Accessibility: Research 2008

Usable and Accessible Plain Language (Easy-to-Read) Network Service
"The navigation structure and other structural elements have to facilitate the processes in which plain language users move around and find information in the network service. Existing research data on a suitable visual and structural design of documents which would be best suited for users of plain language have to be integrated with corresponding information on designing documents for cognitively disabled users."
Designing for people who do not read easily
"This workshop will attempt to explore issues in design for people who do not read easily: what do we know, what commonalities can we exploit, and what we need to find out."
A corpus analysis of simple account texts and the proposal of simplification strategies
"In this paper we investigate the main linguistic phenomena that can make texts complex and how they could be simplified. We focus on a corpus analysis of simple account texts available on the web for Brazilian Portuguese (BP). This study illustrates the need for text simplification to facilitate accessibility to information by poor readers and by people with cognitive disabilities."
Transition and people with learning disabilities: Reflections on the quality of content that emerges from the process of involving service users in information provision
"The paper's purpose is to describe the information content of web sites developed by and for people with learning disabilities around the theme of transition from school to adulthood."
Computer usage by young individuals with down syndrome: an exploratory study
"The survey results suggest that the majority of the children and young adults with Down syndrome can use the mouse to interact with computers ..." but have "... great difficulty in text entry using keyboards ...".
Analysing the 2D, 3D and Web User Interface Navigation Structures of Normal Users and Users with Mild Intellectual Disabilities
"On web pages and on 2D and 3D scenes often more objects, more information have to be discovered. Spatial placement of objects has influential role on reaction times, how soon an object will be found. In our work more objects had to be found on home pages and on skill-improving game programs by normal users and users with mild intellectual disabilities."
People with Specific Learning Difficulties: Easy to Read and HCI
"Off the beaten tracks of technically focused accessibility and usability regulations lies a field of research - almost undiscovered by mainstream accessibility and usability discussions that has the potential to serve people with Specific Learning Difficulties as well as other possible target groups best: How to provide information, tools, services and structures that is readable, understandable and usable for the biggest possible user group."
Web Accessibility: Multimedia and Graphics
"... graphics and multimedia can be thought of as equivalent alternatives to text for those with cognitive disabilities. This chapter looks at issues in the delivery of equivalent information and the preservation of essential content so as to serve the largest possible audience."
Accessible Graphics in Web Applications: Dynamic Generation, Analysis and Verification
"Accessibility for graphics in web applications is still not only a shortcoming for visually impaired people but may also be a request of people with other special needs. In the Access2Graphics project SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is used to dynamically generate graphics that are adapted to the user’s individual requirements in order to make them accessible for each user."
WebAIM: Projects - Steppingstones Literature Review
Review of cognitive Web accessibility literature, broken down into 6 categories: "Conformance to Standards and Best Practices;" "Common Design Elements;" "Language Use and Reading;" "Enhance Comprehension;" "Structure;" and "Elements of Attention and Distraction".
NCDAE Webcast: Designing Web Content that is Accessible To Users With Cognitive Disabilities
"This webcast provided information on cognitive accessibility research conducted by NCDAE and others, overviewed the most common web accessibility issues for users with cognitive and learning disabilities, and provided strategies for designing to this audience."
The Effects of Implementing Web Accessibility Standards on the Success of Secondary Adolescents
"This study engaged 60 students in a secondary school setting in order to identify the navigational effectiveness and response accuracy of web sites constructed to adhere to federal guidelines relating to web accessibility."
WebAIM: Projects - Steppingstones
Describes "... a two-year development grant with a focus on producing a tool intended to help Web developers create web content that can more readily be used by those with cognitive and learning disabilities ...".
Improving Web Form Accessibility Using Semantic XForms for People with Cognitive Impairments
"... the possible application of XForms in combination with the Semantic Web technology is explored and a solution model for providing accessibility for people with cognitive impairments is presented ...".
Web Accessibility: Cognitive and Learning Impairments
"People with cognitive disabilities are gaining in a long struggle for recognition of their right to control their lives. In the information society access to the Web is essential to this control. Cognitive barriers to this access are diverse, reflecting the complexity of human cognitive faculties. These barriers are not well managed in current accessibility practice and policy, in part because cognitive accessibility, like usability, cannot be reduced to a checklist of simple attributes."