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.