Advice for specific accessibility needs
Simple ways to make your site or service more accessible for some common access needs and disabilities.
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Neurodiversity and cognitive impairments
Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that describes a wide range of conditions affecting how the brain works. Neurodiverse conditions can be complex, usually occur along a spectrum, and can interlink. Examples of neurodiversity include autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and Tourette syndrome.
Neurodiverse people may experience a range of cognitive impairments, including:
- Not understanding or processing information the same way you do
- Memory loss – for example, struggling to remember information they’ve just been given
- Difficulty reading and understanding written language
- Losing attention easily
- Feeling overwhelmed by large amounts of information
- Struggling with complex problem solving or decision making
However, anyone can experience cognitive impairments – for example, as a result of ageing, injury or illness.
Good steps to take to make sure your site or service is accessible to a wide range of neurodiverse users and users with cognitive impairments include:
- Writing in plain English – use simple language, avoid jargon and explain complicated terms
- Making sure your site is compatible with screen readers
- Providing alternative versions of content – for example in a video version or an easy-read version
- Using pictures to support your content
- Avoiding large blocks of text – break up content with headings and use formatting like bullets to make it easier to digest
- Keeping your page layout simple and consistent
- Using contrasting colours, but avoiding anything too bright and overwhelming
Sight conditions
Blindness
There are varying degrees of blindness and the legal definition can vary from country to country. Some legally blind people may still be able to distinguish light from dark and may still have some vision.
These users typically use screen readers or Braille display. Things to consider for users with varying degrees of blindness include:
- Making sure your content uses correct heading hierarchy and nesting structure (H1, H2, H3 and so on)
- Adding alt text to mages that convey information (rather than being decorative)
- Producing audio content to support written content where possible
- Making sure all interactive elements of your page can be accessed with a keyboard
- Making sure headings, links and buttons are descriptive
- Avoid using directional language like ‘the navigation on the left side of the page’
View the GOV UK poster on designing for users who use screen readers opens in a new window
Partially sighted
This covers a wide range of sight issues, from extreme long or short sightedness, to partial blindness, clouded vision or a small field of vision.
These users may use a screen reader or Braille display (see advice under ‘Blindness’). They may also adjust elements of visual sites to make them easier to read. Things to consider for partially sighted users include:
- Allowing users to resize text without distorting the page
- Allowing users to zoom in and out
- Allowing users to scroll horizontally as well as vertically
- Making sure your site is compatible with screen readers
- Publish all information as responsive HTML web pages – not PDFs
- Use good colour contrasts
- Use a readable font size
View the GOV UK poster on designing for users with low visionopens in a new window
Colour blindness
Some people with colour blindness won’t find any effect on their ability to use websites. Some may struggle to read text or see images if contrast is not high enough. And some may use additional software like Color Enhancer to change the colours on a site.
Things to consider for colour blind users include:
- Making sure all text, buttons and other elements use sufficient colour contrast
- Avoiding relying on colour alone to convey meaning
Deafness and hearing loss
Just like blindness, deafness comes in varying degrees, and people who are legally Deaf may still have some hearing. Many deaf people use British Sign Language (BSL) as their primary language. This means they may struggle to read and understand written text or video captions as English is technically their second language.
Things to consider for deaf users include:
- Adding captions and transcripts to video content
- Creating BSL versions of content where possible
- Including a BSL interpreter at events
- Make sure written content is written in plain English
- Break up content using headings, bullet points and images
View the GOV UK poster on designing for users who are deaf or hard of hearing opens in a new window
Physical and motor disabilities
Users with physical or motor disabilities may only be able to move some parts of their body, or may experience tremors or difficulty with co-ordination. These users may be using assistive technology (such as a switch or trackball mouse) or a keyboard to navigate your website or service.
Things to consider users with physical or motor disabilities include:
- Making sure actionable elements (like buttons, links, fields and dropdowns) are large enough to be easily selected, and far enough away from other actionable elements that users won’t select the wrong one by accident
- Making sure all actionable elements can be accessed by a keyboard
- Making sure it’s clear which element is in focus when using a keyboard or assistive technology
- Avoid device-specific language like ‘click’ or ‘tap’ – use something more general like ‘select’ or ‘choose’