Design techniques to address hidden disabilities
These fifteen disabilities are a very small subset of all the possible hidden disabilities. At first glance it may seem that designing for these fifteen would be out of the question or near impossible, let alone designing for the longer list of all disabilities. But let’s look more closely at common characteristics of the disabilities previously discussed. Are there any commonalities we can pull from the list of characteristics?
Let’s begin with Acquired Brain Injury. One common characteristic of this hidden disability is a deficit in information processing. What other hidden disabilities discussed have this characteristic in common with Acquired Brain Injury? Looking back through the discussion, we find that challenges in information processing are also common among people with Autism and Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Similarly, lack of motivation is a characteristic of individuals with Bipolar Disorder and Depression.
Gross and/or fine motor impairments are common among individuals with acquired brain injury, Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, Lupus, and Multiple Sclerosis.
The point is that many hidden disabilities share common characteristics. As a matter of fact, hidden disabilities are typically grouped together based on type. For example, the hidden disabilities listed above could be grouped into three categories: those related to cognition, chronic health problems, and psychological disorders. Disabilities within each group often share common characteristics; therefore a single design strategy may be helpful for more than one hidden disability. Interestingly, there may also be strategies that can be shared among groups of disabilities. For example, fine and/or gross motor impairments are characteristic of many cognitive related disabilities as well as several disabilities falling under chronic health problems. Therefore, there are some techniques that could be used in all, such as providing alternative navigation techniques for users.
Let’s look even more closely at disability characteristics and design strategies that would be helpful to those individuals who have the particular disability. For individuals who display fine and/or gross motor impairments, helpful design strategies may be to provide an audio version of text so they do not have to scroll through pages of text, or design the course so that tabbing can be used for navigation instead of requiring the use of a mouse. You may also provide opportunities for individuals to skip repetitive navigation links.
Possible design strategies for persons who display information processing deficits, limitations in memory, a short attention span, or slow rates of reading may be to chunk information into smaller pieces, rather than displaying long strings of information. You should make sure the content in your course is simple, clear and to the point. You may also supply supplemental illustrations.
Bipolar Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome all display lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, or difficulty staying on task. Design techniques to assist in overcoming these issues may include using a multimodal presentation (e.g. text, images, audio, etc.), provide opportunities for frequent practice and feedback, organize information well (e.g., use headings and chunk information), and provide clear and simple writing in your courses. For these characteristics it is also useful to use a high contrast between text and background.
To address visual deficits such as those that are characteristic in Visual Perceptual Deficit, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, Dyslexia and Multiple Sclerosis you may implement the following design strategies. First, use white space well. Make sure content is visually separated from page borders or embedded images or graphics. Be aware of the use of color, make sure there is a high contrast between text and background and do not use a background image unless it has learning significance. Also, watch the use of italicized text as this form of text can often appear to “dance” to people who have visual deficits. Lastly, be aware of the font type you use. Typically sans-serif fonts should be used, such as Arial or Verdana.
The information in Table 1 summarizes descriptions of each hidden disability and lists certain design techniques that are helpful to individuals with each disability. While this is not a comprehensive list of design techniques, it can give you a general sense of what techniques to incorporate. (For more information refer to the resources.) You will notice that many of the techniques are repeated among disabilities, but as discussed previously, disabilities share common characteristics therefore techniques can also be shared among disabilities.
Summary
Not only does Section 508 require that electronic and information technology be made accessible to people who are blind or deaf, but it also requires accessibility for people who may have less visible, or hidden, disabilities. This article listed and discussed characteristics of some of the more common hidden disabilities and provided examples of design techniques that, when implemented, help to address specific needs of people who have hidden disabilities. What is exciting is that you may already be implementing these design techniques! Contrary to what some might fear, designing for hidden disabilities most likely will not increase your workload at all. If you walk away from this article with nothing else, walk away with these four points:
- Section 508 applies to both visible and hidden disabilities.
- Disabilities can be grouped, thus a single design strategy will typically meet the needs of numerous disabilities in one group.
- Characteristics are sometimes shared between groups of disabilities, thus a single strategy may meet the needs of a cognitive related disability as well as a disability categorized as a chronic health problem.
- You may already be implementing design techniques that address hidden disabilities, making your course more accessible by individuals with disabilities.
| Disability | Type/Group | Common Characteristics | Design Techniques |
| Acquired Brain Injury | Cognitive | Deficits in language and communication, information processing, memory and perceptual skill challenges, balance, fine motor skills, strength and endurance. |
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| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) | Cognitive | Distractible, impulsive, inattentive, difficulty staying on task, having many projects going on at one time and rarely completing any of them |
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| Asperger’s Syndrome | Cognitive | Difficulty in articulating due to abnormalities of inflection, may display repetitive speech, and typically have gross motor difficulties. |
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| Auditory Perceptual Deficit | Cognitive | Challenges in understanding and remembering oral instructions, differentiating between similar sounds, may hear inaccurately, or have challenges hearing one sound over a background noise. |
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| Autism | Cognitive | Difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions, may process and respond to information in unique ways, display uneven gross or fine motor skills, and may be non-responsive to verbal cues. |
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| Bipolar disorder | Psychological | Lack of motivation, difficulty doing tasks, short attention span. |
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| Dyslexia | Cognitive | Difficulty with word recognition, may display a slow rate of reading, difficulty with spelling and written composition, and difficulty taking notes. |
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| Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) | Chronic Health | Difficulty concentrating, experience migraine headaches, photosensitivity, and temperature sensitivity. |
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| Depression | Psychological | Lack of motivation, difficulty doing tasks, short attention span. |
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| Epilepsy | Chronic Health | Limitations in memory, disorientation, disorganization, time management, performing or completing tasks, difficulty using office equipment including the computer, limitations in motor abilities, and limitations associated with photosensitivity including using the computer and alternative lighting. |
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| Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) | Chronic Health | Widespread pain and severe fatigue all over the body or in one particular region, may have difficulty concentrating, experience gross and fine motor impairments, and weakness. |
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| Lupus | Chronic Health | Joint and muscle pain, fatigue, photosensitivity, fine and gross motor impairment, cognitive impairment, and fatigue. |
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| Multiple Sclerosis (MS) | Chronic Health | Difficulty walking, experience numbness or feelings of pins and needles, have pain and loss of vision, undergo inflammation of the optic nerve, experience lack of coordination, may have slurred speech, may face cognitive impairment, fatigue, fine and gross motor impairment, heat sensitivity, and vision and speech impairment. |
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| Sensory Integration Dysfunction | Cognitive | Difficulty registering and processing information from five senses (vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, and taste). |
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| Visual Perceptual Deficit | Cognitive | Challenges picking out an object from a background of other objects or seeing things in correct order. |
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Resources
Acquired Brain Injury (and other
topics at UVA Health System)
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/adult_pmr/braininj.cfm
American Fibromyalgia Syndrome
Association
www.afsafund.org/
Conforming e-Learning to 508
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/e-learning.htm
Disabilities Defined
http://www.teachersfirst.com/sped/prof/dis-search2.html
Dyslexia
http://www.dyslexia.org
Learning Disabilities Association: For
Adults
http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/adults/index.asp
National Institute of Mental Health
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/
Section 508 Website
http://www.section508.gov
Vision Deficits
http://www.vision-therapy.com/About_Vision.htm (Editor's Note: As of December 18, 2009, this article appears to have been removed from the Web.)
Visual Perceptual Deficit
http://www.audiblox2000.com/learning_disabilities/dicv02.htm
VisCheck — Simulates Colorblind Vision
http://www.vischeck.com/
WebAIM: Articles on Cognitive
Disabilities
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/cognitive/
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/articles/cognitive_too_little/
