Designing for Cognitive Accessibility in Apps

You can’t see cognitive overload. That’s why it’s ignored. Most teams treat accessibility as contrast ratios and alt text. But cognitive accessibility is wider than that, and less forgiving when you get it wrong. Here are 5 common cognitive disabilities And what designers can actually do. 1. ADHD Challenges: • Distractibility • Difficulty prioritizing • Overwhelm from dense layouts Design for: • Clear visual hierarchy • One primary action per section • Step-based flows Avoid: • Competing primary CTAs • Auto-rotating carousels • Notification overload 2. Dyslexia Challenges: • Slower decoding • Reading fatigue • Difficulty with dense text blocks Design for: • Plain language • Left-aligned text • Generous line height (1.5+ recommended) • Clear headings and chunking Avoid: • Justified text • Long paragraphs • Low-contrast body text 3. Autism Spectrum Challenges: • Sensory sensitivity • Cognitive overload • Distress from unexpected change Design for: • Predictable layouts • Explicit labels • Warnings before context shifts • User-controlled animation and motion Avoid: • Sudden modals • Autoplay video • Reduced motion off by default • Ambiguous copy like “Try it” or “Explore.” 4. Memory Impairment Challenges: • Forgetting steps • Losing context in multi-step flows Design for: • Persistent instructions • Progress indicators • Auto-save • Clear error recovery Avoid: • Clearing form data on error • Hiding previous answers • Long forms without sectioning 5. Anxiety Disorders Challenges: • Fear of mistakes • Stress from uncertainty • Decision paralysis Design for: • Reassuring microcopy • Undo functionality • Transparent consequences • Calm error messaging Avoid: • Countdown timers • Aggressive urgency language • Vague destructive actions Ask yourself: "Does this screen reduce thinking or increase it?" 👇🏽 Are we over-indexing on visual accessibility while ignoring cognitive overload? Drop your thoughts in the comments. ♻️ Share and save this for your team. --- ✉️ Subscribe to my newsletter for accessibility and design insights here: https://lnkd.in/gZpAzWSu --- Accessibility note: Content in the post is the same as the image attached (except for a few bullets omitted for easy scanability)

Web accessibility & mental health: why we need to talk about it In my years working as a web accessibility expert, I’ve often noticed: we tend to focus on physical and sensory disabilities, but mental-health issues and cognitive differences often sit in the shadows of our accessibility discussions. Here’s what I’ve come to understand: · A recent study found that when accessibility features designed for cognitive support were absent, even users without disabilities showed declining cognitive engagement over time (eye-tracking & heart-rate monitoring used) (link to the study: https://lnkd.in/e5ZQe2i7) · The World Wide Web Consortium has a dedicated page on Cognitive Accessibility, acknowledging that many user needs are still not addressed in current standards (link to the webpage: https://lnkd.in/enTWiJdJ) · The European Commission published a 2022 study on inclusive web-accessibility for persons with cognitive disabilities, noting that improved cognitive accessibility benefits everyone (link to the study: https://lnkd.in/e7Z-XAxW) 🚨 Why mental health & cognitive accessibility matters, but gets overlooked · Many mental-health conditions affect attention, memory, processing speed, anxiety, distraction. Yet accessibility standards like WCAG only indirectly address these via criteria like “Readable” or “Predictable”. · This means a website can be technically WCAG compliant, but still highly stressful or inaccessible for a person experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, or cognitive fatigue. · Because mental-health issues are less visible and more variable, teams often don’t plan for them, yet by doing so we exclude a very large group of users. ✏️ Practical tips for designing with mental-health & cognitive needs in mind 1. Simplify tasks & reduce cognitive load Use clear, concise language; break down complex processes into simple steps. Provide “skip this step” or “help” options when tasks require concentration. 2. Manage pace, timing & interruptions Don’t assume users can process content the same as usual - allow more time, allow pauses. Provide options to reduce motion, remove auto-refreshing content. 3. Offer predictable, consistent navigation and UI Avoid surprises, unexpected changes, hidden actions. People with anxiety or executive-function challenges benefit greatly from consistency. 4. Enable personalization & adaptation Allow users to choose simpler mode, reduce visual clutter, choose focus mode, change colours or fonts. 5. Test with real users Too often we test only “visual/motor” disabilities, but persons with cognitive or mental-health-related challenges have unique real-world pain points and involve them early. If you’re working on a project, I invite you to pause and ask: “How would this feel if I were anxious, processing slowly, distracted, or tired?” Because accessibility is empathy translated into design. #Accessibility #MentalHealth #CognitiveAccessibility #InclusiveDesign #WebAccessibility #A11y #UX

Our first list of neuro-inclusive practices revealed a clear truth. The community is hungry for actionable accessibility. Good intentions do not sustain an ecosystem. Structural choices do. Leaders saved and shared those rules because Universal Design is not a luxury. In clinical spaces, clear communication improves patient outcomes and psychological safety. In classrooms, cognitive accessibility is the soil that supports student retention and collaboration. Here are 12 more practices to reduce cognitive load and cultivate an inclusive environment. 1/ Engagement Diversity Reality: Verbal participation favors instant processing. Practice: Offer chat, polls, and written feedback. Yield: Harvests diverse ideas. 2/ Collaborative Tools Reality: Real-time pressure freezes thought. Practice: Use shared workspaces for asynchronous input. Yield: Cultivates deeper contributions. 3/ Transcripts Reality: Working memory gets overwhelmed easily. Practice: Provide written records for spoken content. Yield: Roots knowledge permanently. 4/ Clear Directives Reality: Unspoken rules create social anxiety. Practice: Use explicit, literal instructions. Yield: Removes guesswork entirely. 5/ Fidgeting Normalization Reality: Forced stillness drains cognitive energy. Practice: Explicitly welcome movement and stimming. Yield: Regulates the nervous system. 6/ Translation and ASL Reality: Single language environments build fences. Practice: Incorporate multilingual support and ASL. Yield: Expands your community ecosystem. 7/ Color Accessibility Reality: Relying solely on color excludes many. Practice: Use high contrast and secondary indicators. Yield: Makes pathways visible to all. 8/ Visual and Numeric Supports Reality: Complex graphs overwhelm the brain. Practice: Pair visual data with clear text summaries. Yield: Supports Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. 9/ Presentation Visuals Reality: Harsh whites and flashing graphics trigger pain, truama or seizures. Practice: Use soft backgrounds and remove flashing elements. Yield: Protects trauma-informed physical sensory safety. 10/ Executive Summaries Reality: Walls of text exhaust cognitive reserves. Practice: Provide high level bullet points. Yield: Prevents information overwhelm. 11/ Plain Language Reality: Heavy jargon creates weeds. Practice: Use direct and active voice. Yield: Clears the path for learning. 12/ Curiosity and Agency Reality: No checklist accommodates every mind. Practice: Treat interventions as a start. Ask for feedback. Yield: Cultivates true user agency. Inclusive leadership requires daily tending. Save this post to share with your team before your next project kickoff or curriculum review. Which of these 12 rules is most missing from your current workplace or classroom?

We’re all about diversity, right? Well, one thing I’ve noticed is that there’s a curious lack of conversation about how to test and design for neurodiversity. We talk about how we can ensure accessibility, but what about ensuring accessibility in terms of cognitive ability? Studies show that up to 20% of the population is neurodivergent. As more information emerges about how diverse human brain function can be (and how this diversity can be the basis of many unique strengths), it’s time that we started exploring how we can ensure cognitive accessibility in digital experiences. Neurodiversity exists on a wide spectrum, everything from dyslexia to autism spectrum disorders. For researchers and businesses designing with neurodiversity in mind, I have a few tips to guide the process. 1. Be mindful of sensory thresholds when conducting research with neurodiverse users. Minimize environmental elements that could be overwhelming for individuals with sensory processing disorders, such as bright lights, intense animation, and loud sounds. 2. Keep user interfaces simple and to the point. Be intentional about creating a visual hierarchy that gives clear directives. Using legible fonts helps keep users focused. Give your neurodiverse users the option to adjust some features during their digital usability experience—font size, background color, screen contrast, etc. This takes into account the fact that neurodiversity is unique to each individual and that digital experiences will vary from user to user. 3. Throughout testing, provide clear and consistent feedback to users as they move through the digital experience. Give plenty of visual and auditory cues to actively eliminate ambiguity around what actions lead to what results. If you’re ready to start integrating these principles into your products, an accessibility audit could be a good place to start, or you could initiate a pilot project focused on enhancing cognitive accessibility. These practical steps will help your designs and applications become more accommodating for neurodiverse users.

💡How to design for users with ADHD ADHD affects around 5% of children, 2.5% - 4% of adults. People with ADHD often struggle to maintain focus on tasks, especially if they are repetitive and not stimulating. This can lead to difficulty completing routine work tasks. Good design accommodates the needs of all groups of users, including users with ADHD. Here are some key things you need to consider when creating your product: 🍎 UI design for ADHD users ➡️ Reduce visual clutter ✔ Limit the number of elements on the screen at one time. Too much information or visual noise can be overwhelming and cause distractions. ✔ Highlight key areas. Use visual cues like size or colors to guide attention to the most important elements on the page. ✔ Offer Focus mode. Temporarily hide non-essential UI elements or notifications to help users concentrate on the task at hand. ➡️ Design step-by-step processes ✔ Break down complex tasks into smaller, digestible steps to help maintain focus. For example, use a multi-step form instead of overwhelming the user with a long form. ✔ Recap previous actions. If a task involves multiple steps, offer a brief recap of the previous step before moving to the next. This can help refresh the user’s memory. ✔ Save user progress. Allow users to save their work and return to it later, it will reduce anxiety about completing tasks in one session. ➡️ Minimize cognitive load ✔ Limit form fields. Only include necessary form fields and break longer forms into manageable steps. ✔ Use simple language. Keep instructions, labels, and actions short and easy to understand to reduce cognitive load and confusion. ➡️ Limit distractions ✔ Disable auto-playing content, like videos or sliders, which can be highly distracting to users with ADHD. ✔ Minimize decorative animations. Use animations only when they serve a purpose, like guiding attention or showing progress. ✔ Limit external links. Avoid sending users to external sites or opening new tabs that can easily cause distraction. Keep users within the flow of your content or task. ✔ Let users control the level of notifications they receive. Too many notifications can cause distractions and frustration. 🍏 Product research & testing Involve users with ADHD in product research and usability testing. Their feedback can provide valuable insights into real-world use cases and frustrations. ✔ Conduct one-on-one interviews to gather detailed feedback. Individuals with ADHD may prefer a more personal setting where they can take their time and express their thoughts without feeling overwhelmed by group dynamics. ✔ Structure usability tests around real-world scenarios and tasks that participants with ADHD commonly encounter, such as completing forms, navigating between sections, or focusing on a task for a longer period. 📕 Neurodiversity Design System offers excellent collection of principles for designing for ADHD users https://lnkd.in/dH2khV-8 #UX #design #uxdesign #productdesign

Placeholder text is not a form label. If you're using placeholder text as the only way to identify what goes in a form field, you're creating barriers for users with screen readers, cognitive disabilities, memory issues, and anyone using assistive technology. Here's what happens: Once someone starts typing in a field with only placeholder text, that hint disappears. Screen reader users can't review what the field was supposed to contain. People with memory or attention challenges lose their context mid-form. Anyone who gets interrupted forgets what they were answering. The fix is straightforward: • Use proper label elements that stay visible • Associate labels with inputs using the for attribute • Keep placeholder text for example formatting only ("yourname@example.com") • Don't hide the label, even if it feels redundant You might think your form looks less cluttered without visible labels, but it's not usable for everyone. Accessible design doesn't mean compromising on aesthetics. It means being intentional about how information is structured and presented. When you test your forms with AAArdvark, missing or improperly associated labels get flagged automatically. You can see exactly which fields need attention and verify that the programmatic relationships are working correctly. It's one less thing you have to guess about. Good forms are clear forms. And clear forms work for everyone. #Accessibility Image description: A web form. At the top, there's bold text asking, "Can you check the answers in this form? Before submitting this form, just confirm your answers are correct." Below this, there are five text fields. Each field contains one word or phrase: "Blue," "Elephant," "42," "Monday," and "Artificial intelligence." There are no visible form labels. At the bottom, there is an AAArdvark logo along with the website "a20y.com."