Fill Every Field: Creating Forms That People With Cognitive Disabilities Can Actually Use
taught by: Jonathan Katz-Ouziel
Session Summary
Many people with cognitive disabilities have trouble completing forms or providing input, because these tools are not accessible - but there are practical ways to understand, address, and avoid these barriers. In this session, you will learn hands-on ways to make forms and input mechanisms that people with cognitive disabilities can actually use.
Description
Forms are everywhere in our digital lives nowadays. So are other types of input mechanisms, such as contact and complaint interfaces, surveys, and other tools. We encounter them at work, at school, and when we deal with government.
Yet many of these forms contain barriers for people with cognitive disabilities. Users with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities, memory loss, and other conditions often struggle to complete inaccessible forms. Sometimes, they are not able to do so at all. An inaccessible form is often the barrier between a user and a key life task or achievement.
There is good news, though. These barriers tend to follow patterns, and they are straightforward to fix.
In this session, you will learn about:
- Why forms and other input mechanisms are so often inaccessible
- What barriers often exist for people with cognitive disabilities using forms or providing input
- Eight practical methods to make a cognitively accessible form or fix barriers on a form, based on the presenter's many years of experience in creating, editing, and fixing forms
- Ways that different public and private organizations across North America create forms that are usable - and keep them that way
This session will include:
- Examples of accessible and inaccessible forms from entities across the United States and Canada
- Two interactive exercise periods to identify and fix barriers on a form together
- An open question and discussion session at the end of the session
Practical Skills
- Participants will understand common barriers that people with cognitive disabilities encounter on forms and other types of input.
- Participants will have tools to design cognitively accessible forms and input processes.
- Participants will be able to fix common problems found on forms that affect usability for people with cognitive disabilities.