Dyslexia: Being different and a success!

Chances are that when you think of the most successful and wealthy entrepreneurs, you don’t think of a group of weird people. 

Instead, you probably think of well-respected and brilliant people who exhibit all the admirable qualities of well-rounded, well-adjusted leaders. 

Ironically, research shows just the opposite; entrepreneurs, especially those in technology, are indeed quite odd. In fact, the data show that being odd is the norm.

A recent survey of entrepreneurs conducted by Julie Login of Cass Business School found that 35 percent of those surveyed suffered from dyslexia, compared with 10 percent of the population as a whole. 

One reason for this trend posits that those with dyslexia, a learning disability affecting one’s reading and comprehension, tend to delegate tasks to manage their disability. 

Some of the most notable dyslexics of our time are founders Steve Jobs of Apple, John Chambers of Cisco, and Richard Branson of the Virgin Group.

In another study, attention-deficit disorder (ADD) is common among entrepreneurs. 

A recent article in The Economist mentioned that “people with ADD are six times more likely than average to end up running their own businesses.” 

Sufferers of ADD are known to be disorganized procrastinators who are unable to focus, all normally bad characteristics. 

But some entrepreneurs who have the disorder, like Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s, interpret these characteristics as an advantage because people with ADD can be creative in ways that “normal” people would not.

Furthermore, many entrepreneurs display symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a “developmental disorder that affects a person’s ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others.” 

Some refer to it as a mild form of autism. Asperger’s is perhaps the most prevalent among software developers like me who would prefer to send an e-mail or instant message to someone sitting next to them in the office rather than to talk to them face to face. 

We often appear robotic and detached. Mark Zuckerberg, the cofounder of Facebook, is a good example of an entrepreneur who exhibits these traits. 

In Silicon Valley, several entrepreneurs display the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome. In fact, it’s cool to act this way. 

Most people would just call it being a geek. In the Valley, the social butterflies are considered offbeat.

In addition to these disabilities, disorders, and syndromes, entrepreneurs have habits that are just plain bizarre. 

Steve Jobs had perhaps the strangest habits, including use of acid and LSD. In fact, he attributed his creativity to his taking LSD. 

Other CEOs have been said to perform karaoke in drag, to have an obsession with guessing measurements, to ideate underwater, and to wear the same clothing every day.

In a strange turn of events, these so-called oddities that are common among prominent entrepreneurs are attracting investors. 

To use a term in computer science, pattern matching has become quite popular. 

For instance, if you are looking for the next Facebook and you have to choose between funding two CEOs of equally great tech companies, one who is jovial and the other who is introverted, you’ll probably go with the introvert. 

This may seem a bit ridiculous, but it happens more and more often.

So when it comes to being a successful entrepreneur, it pays to be odd, and besides, when you become wealthy and successful, people tend to forget how odd you might really be. 

Regardless, everyone wants to be your friend.

Adaptive assistive technologies for people with disabilities

''Assistive technologies'' (AT) have developed rapidly in recent years, allowing people with motor disabilities to live more independent and comfortable lives.

Now assistive technology systems that can open a door, turn on a light or connect to the internet at the blink of an eye, a head movement or even a thought, are being made more flexible and customisable for individual users - thanks to the work of EU-funded researchers.

An estimated 2.6 million people in Europe have mobility problems affecting their upper limbs, and around 1.3 million of them require assistive technologies, or the help of human carers, to be able to perform everyday tasks. Across developed countries, the figure rises to 2.5 million.

They include people suffering from a range of diseases, including multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, as well as varying degrees of paralysis, among them locked-in syndrome in which a person may only be able to move their eyes.

While many people already make use of assistive technologies -an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities - in most cases the systems and applications are designed to perform one specific function or assist someone with a specific form of disability.

''What I would call the "old" AT-market is dominated by isolated applications and devices, each addressing a specific disability or focusing on a specific ability of the user. This is in principle good, since it means that each device can be brilliantly optimised in its functionality,'' explains Stefan Parker, a project coordinator and researcher at KI-I in Austria.

''The trouble is that in most actual use cases these devices only manage to take advantage of a part of the user''s abilities or, in other cases, are not properly adaptable to the user''s needs, leaving him or her with a device that is merely semi-optimal for their use case.''

The problem is that disabilities cannot be categorised. Every person is different and even two people suffering from the same disease will often have very different degrees and types of impairment, or a combination of different disabilities at the same time.

Additionally, an individual sufferer will usually need systems to be adjusted, or new devices to be used, as their symptoms evolve over time.

To address the issue, a consortium of research institutes, universities and private companies from seven countries have developed an affordable and scalable platform to implement AT in a much more personalised and flexible way.

Their system, developed over two years in the ''Assistive technology rapid integration and construction set'' (ASTERICS) project with the support of EUR 2.65 million in funding from the European Commission, has already gone into commercial production.And on-going research is set to enhance it further.

Assistive systems, centred on the user
''The AT market is currently subject to great change. On the one hand, mobile devices like smart phones and tablet PCs are conquering the world, and this has a great influence on the AT market.

On the other hand, more user-centred and more flexible approaches towards AT are being generated - ASTERICS being the first and therefore most important,''says Mr Parker, who helped coordinate the project.

Unlike traditional AT systems, the ASTERICS platform can be configured to meet the specific needs of individual users.

It is possible to choose from a wide variety of sensors, from simple switches or webcams to advanced ''brain-computer interfaces'' (BCI), for interaction with the system depending on the requirements and abilities of each person.

The input data, no matter how it is generated, is processed by the ''ASTERICS Runtime Environment'' (ARE).

The software can easily be installed on a Windows-based machine and uses so-called ''models'', configured for each user, to process and execute user commands on any device in order to use their smart phone or computer,and to control their air conditioning or open a window in their home.

The models are built and configured via a dedicated configuration programme, the ''ASTERICS Configuration Suite'' (ACS) in which, through a graphical interface, it is possible to combine several plug-ins for input, signal processing and output and connect them via data-channels and event-channels.

Once completed, a model is simply uploaded to the ARE, where several models can be stored, so the user can have different options for different use cases.

There are also extension modules for the connection of sensors, which can be connected either to the platform or to any other computer via a standard USB cable, along with a HID actuator - a small USB-interface that acts like a standard wireless plug-and-play device, emulating mouse, keyboard or joystick.

''The approach results in a completely user-centred on-site development of AT - the user no longer needs to adapt to the device, it''s the other way round. This goes so far that users can even make small adaptations themselves, or their carer can make them for them, to react to changes in the daily situation,'' Mr Parker notes.

''Also the system can be adapted every time a user''s condition changes for better or worse - usersno longer need to buy a new device every time their condition changes - or use the old one despite having a hard time doing so - they can continue to use the system they are accustomed to and like, but with a new means of input or just with refined settings.''

People suffering from motor disabilities, as well as specialised carers and AT experts, were consulted by the ASTERICS team throughout the design and development process, and prototype platforms received overwhelmingly positive feedback in trials.

''ASTERICS was really appreciated by users and during the course of the user tests we were able to give possibilities to people that they wouldn''t have had without the system. Some users have continued to use the ASTERICS system since the user tests and are very happy with it,'' Mr Parker says.

''Crucially, the system is relatively cheap to install, and can make use of users'' existing devices, such as the webcam on their laptop, to reduce costs further.

Mr Parker estimates that most people would need to spend around EUR 500, excluding the cost of buying a laptop or home PC, for a suitable set up, though it could run to several thousand euro if more expensive equipment such as a brain-computer interface is required.

IMA, a project partner based in the Czech Republic, is currently producing commercial hardware, including input/output modules for use with the system, while Harpo in Poland, another partner, is the prime distributor of the complete system and provides adaptation and customisation services.

The team's goal now is to continue their research and launch a follow-up project to extend the system to mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Children With Disabilities at Greater Risk of Violence and Subsequent Mental Ill-Health

People with disabilities are at a greater risk of being the victims of violence and of suffering mental ill health when victimized, according to research published February 20 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Hind Khalifeh and colleagues from University College London and King's College London.

A recent World Report on Disability highlighted violence as a leading cause of morbidity among disabled people.

The research published February 20 is the first to assess the extent to which people with disabilities experience different kinds of violence and the associated health and economic costs.

The authors analyzed data from the 2009-2010 British Crime Survey to estimate the odds of a person with physical or mental disabilities experiencing physical, sexual, domestic or non-domestic violence.

The survey did not include individuals with disabilities living in institutions.

On the whole, the authors found that, compared to those without any disability, the odds of being a victim of violence in the past year were three-fold higher for those with mental illness-related disability, and two-fold higher for those with physical disability

The odds were similarly raised for physical and sexual violence, and for domestic and non-domestic violence.

Their analysis also revealed that victims with disability were twice as likely to experience emotional difficulties following violence than non-disabled victims.

Across England and Wales in 2009, approximately 224,000 people with disabilities experienced violence, resulting in an excess economic burden of £1.51 billion.

The authors state that overall, the prevalence and risk of violence they estimated in their study is consistent with reports from other countries such as the US and Taiwan.

According to the authors, their research highlights the need for clinicians to be aware of the greater risks of domestic and non-domestic violence among patients with all disability types, and of the increased risk of emotional difficulties among disabled victims.

The study concludes, "Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of violence prevention programs in people with disability that address risk factors specific to this group, such as caregiver stress or communication barriers to disclosure."

DisabledGear.com - Used and 2nd Hand Disability Equipment

DisabledGear.com is a FREE & easy-to-use website designed to make buying and selling second-hand disability equipment painless.

If you like it, please tell others: the more people that use the site, the better it will work for everyone.

And the free-ads section is, well…. FREE!!

You can always upgrade for extra features with a Prime Account

Read their protect yourself against fraud section - see Information pages - and report any abuse.

A community works best together .

DisabledGear.com

Aiding the Blind: Kinecthesia - Oct 2011 - YouTube

Two Students from the University of Pennsylvania have modified a Kinect to help the vision impaired to become more aware of their environment. The project is called Kinecthesia and functions as a radar-like device, but instead of using sound, the device uses the Kinect's cameras to map out the environment and translate it into a sensation the blind can understand.

Eric Berdinis and Jeff Kiske, juniors of the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Computer Engineering, has garnered attention in the 2011 Google's Zeitergeist Young Minds Conference with their application of the gaming peripheral.

The project was born from both student's final project for Rahul Mangharam's embedded systems class. The resulting device can be likened to a high-tech walking cane.

The Kinect is a motion detecting gaming peripheral produced by Microsoft. The device is used for the Xbox 360 which can interpret specific gestures and track movement of individuals or objects.

The device is composed of an RGB camera, an infrared sensor acting as a depth sensor and multiple-array microphone. It can perform facial recognition, voice recognition and gesture recognition.

Using the Kinect's multiple cameras, Berdinis and Kiske have made a harness that produces vibrations to notify the wearer of coming obstacles.

The Kinect is connected to a BeagleBoard, a whole computer in a single board, and fitted in a waistband or belt. The device is ran in Linux and 16 AAA batteries. Since it was still in development the device is not made to run for hours. There are six vibrating motors to guide the user and weighs 1349g as of now.

There are already a number of people hacking their Kinect devices for other applications besides gaming like 3D modeling, controlling robots and using motion capture to automate devices, augment reality, and even produce a low-budget CGIs for amateur movies.


It is great that people are experimenting and applying on technologies readily available for them. Will this open doors on new innovators? Does Microsoft see a new market for their devices?

The project's development can be tracked on their own website at kinecthesia.com. The website also contains the project source code, parts list and assembly instructions.

Paraplegic Woman walks again with aid of Exoskeleton

It’s been almost twenty years since Amanda Boxtel stood on her own two feet due to a freak skiing accident in Colorado, but today she’s up and walking again thanks to an exoskeleton from Ekso Bionics.

As Boxtel notes, this is only the first step in exoskeleton technology and someday, she hopes to dance again, cheek-to-cheek.

Notes From a Dragon Mom - A child with Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disorder

We found this very moving and interesting article in the NY Times. It's from Emily Rapp is the author of “Poster Child: A Memoir” She is also a professor of creative writing at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design:


MY son, Ronan, looks at me and raises one eyebrow. His eyes are bright and focused. Ronan means “little seal” in Irish and it suits him.

I want to stop here, before the dreadful hitch: my son is 18 months old and will likely die before his third birthday. Ronan was born with Tay-Sachs, a rare genetic disorder.

He is slowly regressing into a vegetative state. He’ll become paralysed, experience seizures, lose all of his senses before he dies. There is no treatment and no cure.

How do you parent without a net, without a future, knowing that you will lose your child, bit by torturous bit?

Depressing? Sure. But not without wisdom, not without a profound understanding of the human experience or without hard-won lessons, forged through grief and helplessness and deeply committed love about how to be not just a mother or a father but how to be human.

Parenting advice is, by its nature, future-directed. I know. I read all the parenting magazines. During my pregnancy, I devoured every parenting guide I could find.

My husband and I thought about a lot of questions they raised: will breast-feeding enhance his brain function? Will music class improve his cognitive skills? Will the right preschool help him get into the right college? I made lists. I planned and plotted and hoped. Future, future, future.

We never thought about how we might parent a child for whom there is no future. The prenatal test I took for Tay-Sachs was negative; our genetic counselor didn’t think I needed the test.

I’m not Jewish and Tay-Sachs is thought to be a greater risk among Ashkenazi Jews. Being somewhat obsessive about such matters, I had it done anyway, twice. Both times the results were negative.

Our parenting plans, our lists, the advice I read before Ronan’s birth make little sense now. No matter what we do for Ronan, choose organic or non-organic food; cloth diapers or disposable; attachment parenting or sleep training, he will die. All the decisions that once mattered so much, don’t.

All parents want their children to prosper, to matter. We enroll our children in music class or take them to Mommy and Me swim class because we hope they will manifest some fabulous talent that will set them and therefore us, the proud parents, apart.

Traditional parenting naturally presumes a future where the child outlives the parent and ideally becomes successful, perhaps even achieves something spectacular.

Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” is only the latest handbook for parents hoping to guide their children along this path. It’s animated by the idea that good, careful investments in your children will pay off in the form of happy endings, rich futures.

I have abandoned the future, and with it any visions of Ronan’s scoring a perfect SAT or sprinting across a stage with a Harvard diploma in his hand.

We’re not waiting for Ronan to make us proud. We don’t expect future returns on our investment.

We’ve chucked the graphs of developmental milestones and we avoid parenting magazines at the pediatrician’s office. Ronan has given us a terrible freedom from expectations, a magical world where there are no goals, no prizes to win, no outcomes to monitor, discuss, compare.

The day-to-day is often peaceful, even blissful. This was my day with my son: cuddling, feedings, naps.

He can watch television if he wants to; he can have pudding and cheesecake for every meal.

We are a very permissive household. We do our best for our kid, feed him fresh food, brush his teeth, make sure he’s clean and warm and well rested and, healthy?

Well, no. The only task here is to love, and we tell him we love him, not caring that he doesn’t understand the words. We encourage him to do what he can, though unlike us he is without ego or ambition.

Ronan won’t prosper or succeed in the way we have come to understand this term in our culture; he will never walk or say “Mama,” and I will never be a tiger mom.

The mothers and fathers of terminally ill children are something else entirely. Our goals are simple and terrible: to help our children live with minimal discomfort and maximum dignity.

We will not launch our children into a bright and promising future, but see them into early graves. We will prepare to lose them and then, impossibly, to live on after that gut wrenching loss.

This requires a new ferocity, a new way of thinking, a new animal. We are dragon parents: fierce and loyal and loving as hell.

Our experiences have taught us how to parent for the here and now, for the sake of parenting, for the humanity implicit in the act itself, though this runs counter to traditional wisdom and advice.

To read the full story follow this link Notes From a Dragon Mom - NYTimes.com

Four-in-10 disabled children 'in poverty' in UK

Four in 10 disabled children in the UK live "in poverty", according to the Children's Society.

In the population as a whole, about one-in-three children lives in poverty.

The charity is calling on the government to rethink planned changes to welfare benefits in the UK, saying more than 100,000 disabled children could lose up to £27 a week.

The government says the most severely disabled children will receive more money under the changes. This means that with a fixed budget expenditure, less 'severe' disabled children will lose or receive reduced support.

The UK Tory 'Welfare Reform' Bill is nearing its final stage in parliament before it becomes law. The current UK government uses the term 'reform' as a euphimism for 'severe budget cuts' and /or 'moves towards Privatisation of public services.

Ultimately, this cheapening of social care leads to a reduction of basic human rights for people who are already marginalised, by no fault of thier own.

From 2013, the UK Tory gov will bring in a single monthly payment - known as a Universal Credit - which will replace a range of benefits. This 'one-size-fits-all' approach is a simplistic economic tool that is in no way considerate of individual situations and conditions.

The Children's Society says a new study it has carried out shows 320,000 disabled children in the UK live below the poverty line. Arguably this can be the result of parents staying at home caring for children and giving up on employment opportunities.

UK poverty is defined as being in a family where the income is less than 60% of the national average.

The charity says nearly a third of the 320,000 live in "severe poverty" - where the income is less than 40% of the average.

It says the welfare changes could mean more families with disabled children fall further below the poverty line.

At the moment, families with a disabled child may currently be entitled to support through the disability elements of child tax credit.

Under plans set out for Universal Credit, this support will be given through what is is called "disability additions", within household benefit entitlements.

The government plans to halve the maximum level of support provided through the disability additions - from £54 per week, down to £27 per week.

But it says the plans will mean more financial support for the most severely disabled children.

Read more on this article at BBC News and let us know your comments and if these changes affect you, leat us know in what way.

MS Word Add-Ins to Engage and Support All Students

Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 and the current version 2010, has many features that cater to students who require additional learning supports. Some features are in the toolbars or ribbons, but are often not apparent or their use or relevance not evident.


Others can be accessed via a mouse or preferred pointing device whilst others can be invoked using a variety of keyboard shortcuts. These can be introduced and taught to students who have different learning styles. Remembering where the functions are or mastering the combinations of keyboard shortcuts can often present difficulties and challenges for both teaching staff and students.

Using colour to differentiate background and foreground, page magnification, line and word spacing, ready-made templates, and highlighting tools guarantees that this powerful word processing software can be used more efficiently and enable users to be more productive and competent in dealing with text.


Students of all abilities and ages can become more confident in completing school tasks and master skills to meet their specific needs, over time. Most schools use this program but many students are still disadvantaged as it has so many different features but most are not used well, if at all.

A number of add-ins exists for MS Word. These handy add-ins provide increased functionality over and above the inbuilt features and tools. Simple yet powerful tools provide additional supports – at no cost to the student or school.

They may introduce features not readily available within MS Word or provide easier access to MS Word – visually, physically and/or cognitively. They may be useful in supporting students or users who have:

• Learning disabilities
• Dyslexia
• Learning Difficulties
• A print handicap
• Issues with English as they are recent arrivals and English is their second language
• Intellectual disabilities
• Reading, spelling writing or planning/organisational difficulties

Read the Full Article and View the suggested Add-ins here: MS Word Add-Ins | The Spectronics Blog

Inclusion: Children With Disabilities Reveal their concerns

The playground can be a daunting place for any kid trying to join in and be one of the gang. For kids with disabilities it's just as important to feel included, be accepted and valued -- particularly by their peers.

In a study to understand the perspectives of children with disabilities around inclusion in physical activities during free play, recreational sports and recess, Dr. Nancy Spencer-Cavaliere, an adapted physical activity expert, in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta, interviewed children with a range of disabilities about their thoughts on what made them feel included or rejected during these activities.

"Children were asked to theorise about other fictional children who are like them, so they didn't have to pour their hearts out initially if they didn't want to. So I'd start by saying, 'Imagine if you were…'

"I found that as children theorised, they would float in and out of the first, second and third person. They would weave their own experiences into those of the fictional child they were theorising about.

Final questions would ask, 'How about you? How would you feel?'"

Three themes emerged from the data: gaining entry to play; feeling like a legitimate participant, and having friends.

"Many children spoke about initiating play," says Spencer-Cavaliere, "and either being invited to play or asking to play and being rejected or not being invited or not being allowed. Making that initial step into a play environment is really a critical step for children."

One of the children gave an example of wanting to play freeze-tag, a game he enjoyed. "He asked to play and was rejected. He asked the teacher to help and the teacher did nothing. Eventually he walked away. 'It feels like you're treated like an insect,' he said.' So a major part of being included was being asked to take part, or another child saying, "Yes, you can play."

Children frequently expressed the need to feel valued, evolving the second major theme: feeling like a legitimate participant. Says Spencer-Cavaliere, "For the children this meant that once within a physical activity or play environment, taking on roles that were meaningful, feeling a part of the game: feeling important, as though you had a valued role."

In the third theme, having friends, children stressed the value of true friendships, having someone they could depend on and trust. "That allowed children to be less concerned about their performance and more invested in being part of the game and having a good time because they were in a safe place with people who accepted and valued them."


One surprise for Spencer-Cavaliere: "Children were given a broad spectrum of things they could talk about but they never mentioned physical education when discussing feeling included," she says. "This may mean they don't consider physical education as inclusive because it's very structured by adults. It seems that other children and their behaviour make the distinction between feeling included or belonging that could arise in other play settings where children could direct and make decisions about who takes part.

"With that said, the free play setting is a major challenge for children with disability," says Spencer-Cavaliere, "simply because you're really dependent on other children who are not always mature, or understand or appreciate difference and value that."

So what's a teacher, coach, parent to do to help kids with disability feel included? "When in doubt, ask the child," says Spencer Cavaliere. "You get valuable information and it gives them a say."

Spencer-Cavaliere cautions there is no one solution. "All children need to be in places where they feel included, whether they experience disability or not," she says. "This could mean specialized or integrated settings. Children need to have legitimate choices to have meaningful experiences in a variety of physical activity settings, and we should not be limiting the type of setting."

The research was published in the Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, and named a landmark study by the journal.

Web accessibility for cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties - Opera Developer Community

Introduction

Web accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties is one of the most overlooked subtopics of general web accessibility, despite it affecting the largest numbers. A large part of it is that there are so many conditions to understand in this area (far more than say visual or hearing impairments) and a lack of educational information available for learning about it.

In this article we will cover a few of the problems users with cognitive disabilities may have that can affect their ability to use the Web, as well as the things that developers can do to alleviate these problems and things they should avoid. A lot of what is covered will be well known and common sense to many, but is here for completeness.

What are cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties?

As with any aspect of accessibility, here we are less interested in specific conditions than we are with how they impact a person’s ability to use a website. These conditions affect a web user’s ability to perform one or more mental tasks. This includes problems with:

• reading text
• memory
• problem solving
• keeping focused (attention span)
• computation (for example calculations)
• non-verbal learning (for example difficulty with written materials)

For example, let’s have a look at some basic personas:

• Steve has problems processing text, particularly when words are spelt incorrectly or when sarcasm or metaphors are used (this is most likely dyslexia).
• Alison has short-term memory problems with what she sees and hears. It is difficult for her to remember what she has already entered in long forms or previously read in articles split into multiple pages.
• Jeremy has difficulty with problem solving. He struggles with unfamiliar circumstances, such as links to new places in a website or unclear form input error messages (this could be as a result of intellect, emotional or executive function impairments).
• Emily finds it difficult to focus on tasks, particularly when a web page has moving adverts or multiple pop-up windows.
• Thomas has problems with numbers; it can be difficult for him to estimate the total cost of items when buying online or to solve simple maths-based questions asked on some comment forms to prove he is not a spambot (this is most likely dyspraxia).
• Kate can have problems associating a representation of an object with the object itself, such as associating a picture of an apple with a real apple. She finds it easier to understand audio information than written or pictorial content.

Users can sometimes have a combination of cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties, and they may also have physical disabilities. It is important to be aware of the range of conditions that might affect your users, but at the same time you must avoid strict categorisation as every person is unique in their abilities — it is rarely simple, and there really is no one size fits all solution. For example, someone who is in the autistic spectrum may have none of the issues listed, but as this spectrum is concerned with making human connections and communication, certain visual or written nuances that would be obvious even to someone with a severe learning difficulty that affected the processing of information may be missed by someone in this spectrum. And someone with severe ADHD (inattention and hyperactivity) can find any task way more frustrating than what is considered as normal.

Areas to consider

You may find it difficult to create a web site that is accessible to all users with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties because of the range of issues you need to consider.

You might find that a solution for one user is a hindrance to another, for example images could potentially be a distraction to someone who prefers text, even though combining content types is your best hope for universal accessibility. If you have a specific target group you can tailor content for that group, otherwise you have to tailor content for different information representations for different groups.

By following some simple guidelines you will be able to make your content available to as wide an audience as possible. A lot of this is fairly general web design best practices, but that’s what enables a lot of accessibility! Framing them in the context of cognitive disability should give you a better understand of the area.

Consistency

The first thing you should think about when designing your content is consistency. Users should be able to learn what to expect from each new page of your site — the various features should be consistent with previous pages, in terms of style, location and function.

What, in particular, should we be aiming to make consistent? Lets go through them.

Navigation

After the content itself, the site navigation is possibly the most important thing to get right. Its position and functionality should not change across a site, and it should be easily identifiable as navigation, with intuitive menu options.

Fonts and font sizes

Do not use too many different fonts, and treat them as you would a colour palette. Stick to a small number, perhaps one font for headings and one font for body text. Introducing a lot of variation serves to introduce distractions and noise, and this is something we want to avoid at all costs.

Interactive elements: links and buttons

It is important that users of any kind can recognise a link on your site. Links on a site need to follow the same style, and need to behave as a user would expect. Positioning, relevance, purpose and destination are all very important here.

The same goes for buttons, and there is much to be said for leaving buttons and other form controls as they are styled by the browser as this is what many users expect forms on the Web to look like. This not only delivers consistency across your site, but across all sites. Controls that are already familiar to a user will likely be less confusing.

Structure

It is important that content is well organised and structured. HTML gives us a limited set of elements to organise our content. Although we may sometimes find this restrictive it can actually be a good thing because it helps us be consistent as well. This section discusses the different facets of structure.

Headings

Headings and subheadings should be clear, meaningful and properly nested — they are a guide to the content on a page. Ideally it should be possible to get a good idea of what the content is about just by reading the headings.

Lists

By their very nature lists require more concentration to scan through and comprehend. Each item in a list should be short and concise, and further visual grouping of a list (eg using a different background colour to the rest of the page) – if you have a complicated concept to explain start with a list and then expand on each item under its own heading.

White space

White space is important for structure; without it all elements will merge in to one block and become incomprehensible. Look for good separation between headings, paragraphs, block quotes, etc. Pay particular attention to the spacing between columns of content; wide gutters or clear delineation with vertical borders can help.

Clear differentiation between content types

Use colour, font weights and other styles to differentiate between types of content, for example a quoted phrase could be emphasised, form labels could be strong. This makes it easier for users to determine the type of content they are looking at a glance.

Focus

Most users of websites are task-driven – they have a task that they want to perform, and they want to do it without distraction, as quickly as possible. It can be easy to distract attention from your content, so there are certain things to avoid, which we shall talk about now.

Contrasting blocks of colour

It is natural that a users eye will be drawn to the more colourful areas of the page, so avoid overly bright or intricate side columns or other needless distractions. You want to encourage users to be focused on the most important page content or functionality.

Unexpected sound

Avoid sounds that are played without the user specifically interacting with the source – this again will cause confusion.

Animations and other moving content

Movement on a page can be very distracting, especially if it happens automatically, without the user having any warning that is going to happen. The only place there should be movement is on the element the user is interacting with at that moment, for example a highlight on a navigation menu option, or playing a video when the user chooses to.

Pop ups and new tabs

Pop up windows and automatically loading content in new tabs moves attention away from the whole page — more confusion. In addition, popups usually tend to be adverts, therefore users tend to dismiss them regardless of their content.

Readability

Good readability guidelines apply to all text on your page, whether in navigation, graphics or just plain content. The most important part of any page is the content, and the following guidelines will help you make your content as readable and intuitive as possible.

Adequate text size and line height

A font size of 10px or 11px is often considered an acceptable minimum, however I would recommend 12px or 13px depending on the font (I am talking computed sizes here — you would of course set text size using a relative unit such as ems or percentage in your CSS). Although browsers have controls to adjust font sizes or zoom the entire page, there are no guarantees that a user will know how to use them.

Line height should be approximately one and a half times the font size.

Limited line length

Long line lengths can be difficult to read in some circumstances. Contrary to popular belief not all users have problems with long lines, but users with reading problems often do. Stick to a maximum of 70–80 characters of text per line.

Colour contrast

As for other users, good contrast between foreground and background is important. In addition, using colour to differentiate between links and regular text can help.

Short paragraphs

Write short paragraphs, each one focused on a single point or idea.

Transformability

Transformability means that your content can be changed in ways to suit different users. We will look at various mechanisms you can employ to support transformability in this section.

Support text resizing

The most basic type of transformation is changing text size. Your design should be able to support a font size increase of at least 200%; 300% preferably.

This is less of an issue now that most browsers support full page zooming, but there are still users that would prefer to increase font size without changing the width of the page, the images, or the containing columns.

Support user styles

Make it easy for users to apply their own styles via user stylesheets. Write good clean CSS, using low specificity on selectors and avoiding the use of !important.

Ensure it works without images, scripting or styles

Test that the site works without images, scripting or styles at all. This is the ultimate fallback for all users in all situations, and it makes it easier for them to provide a usable baseline like this, rather than them having to write their own style sheet. It is also a good test of the structure of your content.

Provide an API or feed

Provide an API or a feed to allow others to re-format your content. Ultimately it may not be possible to cater for all users on one site, but if other developers are able to take your content and reformat it for different situations, you will reach an even wider and more diverse audience.

Twitter is a great example of what can be done with an API. Not only is content and the ability to tweet available from the website but there are many different client applications that can be tailored to different users needs. Accessible Twitter is an alternative to the Twitter website, designed and optimised to be easier to use by disabled users.

Another example is Easy YouTube, created by Christian Heilmann. It is an interface to YouTube specifically designed for users with learning difficulties. As Christian himself says in the documentation, without the availability of various APIs this would not have been possible.

Content

Now on to the content itself, the most important part of a site. If you have marked up and structured your content correctly then it should be convertible to other forms, but if the content itself is broken then you have gone wrong from the beginning.

Spelling and grammar

Most users can probably get some meaning from content that has grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, but they can render a word or sentence completely meaningless to users with reading difficulties.

For commercial sites I would strongly advise using the services of a proof reader or professional copy editor.

For sites without a commercial budget, spell and grammar checkers are built in to most applications used to write content, so use them, but make sure you also give your content a human proof read as best you can.

Definitions of terms

Define any abbreviations, acronyms or technical terms. Provide a glossary for complicated or technical subjects. Avoid jargon if you can, but not to the point of removing clarity from the content.

One subject

Stick to the subject of your page; be focused and avoid digression.

Summarise

Summarise the content of your page as an introductory paragraph. This allows your user to determine if this is the content they are looking for early on to avoid frustration.

Mix content types

Different users may find different forms of content easier to consume. For one user lots of images and less text may be more understandable, whereas for another the same content spoken in a video might be better.

Wherever resources allow, try to provide your content in multiple formats. Don’t forget to caption videos and transcribe audio content.

Obviously this can make content very editorially intensive, so is not possible in all cases, but if you have a product to sell and you include a text description, images showing individual features and a video clip of the product in use, this will not only constitute a better sales pitch, it will also allow users to pick the content type that works best for them.

It is also important to try and avoid making mixed content distracting. As previously mentioned, a solution for one user may be a hindrance to another. Sensible designs and interactions are key here. If you are mixing text with images perhaps separate the two rather than interspersing the images within the text. Display the images in a slideshow rather than showing them all at once, and try and provide the same information with images alone. A user can then choose to read the text or go through the slideshow to get the same content.

Conclusions

You may think that a lot of the points made in this article are nothing more than common sense, and you would be absolutely right! The good news is that the best strategy for creating a site accessible to those with cognitive or learning difficulties is to provide clear and straight forward content in an easy to use interface with few distractions. This is what we want to provide our users with in most circumstances anyway, so it only takes a little more care and thought to avoid the pit falls.

The benefits go beyond what is traditionally thought of as accessibility as well. Something as simple as good grammar can greatly increase comprehension, especially for readers who are not fluent in the language a document is written in.

There is some bad news unfortunately – a single interface or style of content is never going to be able to cater for all users in all circumstances. This gives further weight to the idea of exposing content via a good API or feed. The same content can be repurposed for display in a different format, on other web sites, or on devices such as mobile phones.

Dyspraxia: Work with Your Child's Teacher to Identify and Address Math Disabilities

Mathematics disabilities are identified through a variety of procedures. Usually the classroom teacher or parent observes that the child is having persistent difficulty learning mathematics and tends to perform poorly on classroom math assessments compared to the rest of the class. For example, the child may have trouble remembering what the teacher has taught or she may have difficulty using effective strategies to solve math problems.

By observing and working directly with a child over time, the teacher can determine if her difficulty learning mathematics is persistent. Unfortunately, mathematics disabilities are usually not identified until the upper elementary school years because early problems often go undetected and assessment results may not be sensitive enough to detect a problem until the later grades.

Information about the child's performance can be gathered in several ways. Weekly tests, homework, and class work samples are examples of information the teacher can collect about the child's progress learning the mathematics curriculum. The teacher may adapt how instruction is provided to accommodate a child's learning needs and then note how the child responds to those adaptations.

The teacher may also seek assistance from a specialist or school support team who can offer additional ideas about how to adapt instruction for the child who is struggling to learn the curriculum. The teacher may also consult with the child's parents to understand how the child is doing on math homework. All of this information helps the teacher and school support team develop a profile of the child's learning difficulties and her response to instruction and adaptations.