How People with Disabilities Use Digital Technology.
Stefan.
Student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.
Hi, I'm Stefan.
I have dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
ADHD.
I have difficulty recognizing or sounding out written words,
even though I use those same words in conversation all the time.
It affects my spelling and my reading comprehension.
It often takes me a long time to figure out the individual words I'm reading,
and then it's hard for me to remember
how the words in a sentence fit together in a meaningful way.
Digital books and documents are often much better for me.
On the computer, on a tablet, or - my favorite - on my new e-reader.
I can change the font type, text size and line spacing,
which makes it easier for me to read.
I also use the read aloud function because I read better
when I can see and hear the text at the same time.
It also highlights the words being read aloud
and has a reading ruler, so that I can follow along more easily.
Sometimes, though, digital books and documents don't work well.
Sometimes they are just scanned images.
These also can't be read aloud and I can't change the text size and font.
Some don't have bookmarks, which I use to jump to the parts I want to focus on.
Or, there are long chunks of text without any headings,
so I have difficulty focusing on the content.
It's so much easier when text has more spacing
and graphics to make them easier to follow.
Another problem is when I have to do online research,
I type in words, but sometimes I do it wrong or use a different word
that sounds the same, like “brake” when I mean “break”.
Sometimes I land on websites with all these ads and things
popping up and moving around the screen.
With ADHD, I get distracted by these ads and videos,
and sometimes I click on them and I forget what I was meant to be doing.
I use several pop-up blockers, but they don't always work.
When I find an article I want to read,
I try to remember to switch to reading mode in my browser.
This usually removes all the stuff around the page and lets me focus on the text.
But some websites don't work well and the ads still appear,
or the text is too difficult for me to read.
I love it when websites work well with my settings and extensions.
Like, the extension for spelling and grammar,
which helps me when I'm typing things like emails.
That's very important for me.
You can help make technology accessible to me.
Accessibility: It’s about people.
For more information from the Web Accessibility Initiative
on how people with Disabilities use Digital Technology
visit w3.org/WAI/people