Motor
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones wears down over time.
- Nature of disability : Acquired
- Age group concerned : 50 age after which osteoarthritis mainly occurs 65%: of people over 65 are affected and 80% of people over 80.
- Number of people affected : 10 million French people are affected by the disease.
Symptoms
- Most common joint disease
- Joint pain and stiffness
- Possible loss of mobility
- Stiffness
- Morning stiffness
- Reduced range of movement
Examples of obstacles encountered during navigation
- Websites, web browsers and authoring tools that do not provide full keyboard support.
- Insufficient time to respond or complete tasks, such as filling in online forms.
- Controls, including links with text images, that do not have equivalent text alternatives.
- Missing visual and non-visual orientation cues, page structure and other navigational aids.
- Inconsistent, unpredictable and overly complicated navigation mechanisms and page functions.
- Clickable areas too small.
Solutions for accessibility
To use the Web, people with physical disabilities often use specialised hardware and software such as :
- Ergonomic or specially designed keyboard or mouse.
- Head pointer, mouth stick and other aids to help with typing.
- On-screen keyboard with trackball, joysticks or other pointing devices.
- Switches operated by foot, shoulder, sip and puff or other movements.
- Voice recognition, eye tracking and other approaches to hands-free interaction.
- They may need more time to type, click or perform other interactions, and they may type single keystrokes in sequence rather than typing simultaneous keystrokes (‘chords’) to activate commands.
- People with physical disabilities may find it difficult to click on small areas and are more likely to make mistakes when typing and clicking. Providing large clickable areas, sufficient time to complete tasks and error correction options for forms are important design aspects.
- Another important aspect is the display of the current focus and the ability to switch from one block to another easily.
- The content is compatible with current and future user tools.
- Operating system functions or software tools that recognise and compensate for involuntary movements such as tremors and spasms.