Voice Should Be User-Friendly - to All Users
From: Speech Technology Magazine - 11/09/2015
By: Deborah Dahl

Experts work to make speech solutions accessible to the cognitively impaired

When we think of accessibility for the disabled, we think of people with
physical limitations such as inability to see, hear, or use one's hands. But
cognitive impairments, affecting memory, attention, or the ability to use
language, present their own accessibility issues.

Cognitive disabilities are both diverse and common; they include dyslexia,
autism, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, aphasia, and dementia. Like everyone
else, these users can benefit from the enormous number of services and the
incredible amount of information on the Web. But many (if not most) Web sites
are difficult for people with cognitive disabilities to use. This issue is
becoming particularly important as organizations (including companies,
nonprofits, and governments) rely more and more on the Web to connect with
their customers and their citizens.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.speechtechmag.com/Articles/Column/Standards/Voice-Should-Be-User-Friendly-to-All-Users-107385.aspx

Links:
W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force
http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/cognitive-a11y-tf

W3C Cognitive Accessibility User Research
http://www.w3.org/TR/coga-user-research

The Association of Voice Interaction Design (AVIxD) Wiki
http://videsign.wikispaces.com