Cognitive Disorder

ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a range of neurobiological disorders that affect the development of individuals described as “autistic.” These disorders are characterized by dysfunctions in social interactions, communication, behaviors, and activities.

  • Nature of disability : Congenital
  • Age group concerned : 100,000 are under 20
  • Number of people affected : 700,000 people

Symptoms

These disorders bring together a range of conditions characterised by:

  • Impaired social interaction
  • Communication problems (language and non-verbal communication)
  • Behavioural disorders corresponding to a restricted, stereotyped and repetitive repertoire of interests and activities unusual sensory reactions

Examples of obstacles encountered during navigation

  • Complex navigation mechanisms and page layouts that are difficult to understand and use
  • Lack of clear structure and overabundance of content
  • Complex sentences that are difficult to read and unusual words that are hard to understand
  • Unconventional fonts that are difficult to read
  • Long passages of text without images, graphics or other illustrations to highlight the context
  • Moving, flashing or flickering content and background sound that cannot be turned off
  • Web browsers and media players that do not provide mechanisms for removing animations and sound
  • Visual page designs that cannot be adapted using web browser controls or custom style sheets

Solutions for accessibility

  • Clearly structured content for easy overview and orientation
  • Consistent labelling of forms, buttons and other content elements
  • Predictable link targets, affordant functionality and overall interaction
  • Different ways of navigating websites, such as hierarchical menus and search
  • Options to remove flashing, flickering, blinking and otherwise distracting content
  • Simpler text complemented by images, graphics and other illustrations
  • Ability to change focus options (e.g. reading mask, text-to-speech word highlighting)
  • Customisable text and content (text spacing, words, font)

Each category highlights the specific challenges users may encounter in digital contexts.

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