Hello everyone!
This week, one of our consultants, Emma, is going to delve into some of the dos and don'ts for being more neuroinclusive in our everyday digital lives...
"The more I learn about effectively communicating with neurodiversity in mind, the more I notice neuroexclusion prevalent in communications: on social media, in corporate communications, and throughout day-to-day work documents.
Despite the fact that somewhere in the region of 20% of the population have some form of neurodivergence, we've built systems of communication that subconsciously assume everybody is neurotypical, which then puts barriers in the way for that 20%.
The 2010 Equality Act (under which neurodiversity is often classed as a disability) also makes it a requirement for public sector websites to be accessible and not treat those with a disability less favourably. It's a bit more ambiguous for the private sector, but inclusion isn't just about following the law. If we can consciously be more inclusive for a whole community just by shifting a few formatting points, it's an easy win.
And when we improve the legibility of our comms for our neurodivergent friends, we improve it for everybody. Because what slows down the comprehension for the neurodivergent community, also slows down the comprehension for neurotypicals.
The great news is that we can step up as allies by taking charge of being more neuroinclusive in our everyday digital lives.
Below are five easy tips.
1. Choose a sans serif font for your emails and documents.
- Font selection can significantly affect text readability for those with dyslexia.
- Sans serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana lack decorative flourishes, enhancing readability.
- Monospaced fonts, such as Courier, ensure each character occupies equal space, aiding clarity.
- Dyslexia friendly fonts, such as Dyslexie, have thicker lines in parts and differentiated lengths of the 'sticks and tails' of characters like b, p, d. The irregular shapes make character recognition easier.
2. Drop the caps from your headings, titles, and social media posts.
Continuous caps make it difficult for people with dyslexia to read. Harvard University explain - "Readability is reduced with all caps because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can't identify words by their shape."
Consider other ways for making text standout. Use bold. Increase the font size. Use an icon. Change the colour (be mindful of contrast, but more on that next).
3. Always put text over an image with an opaque background and a high contrast ratio between.
Text over images is an effort for anybody to decode, particularly those with dyslexia or ADHD.
Take a look at the images below:
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Whilst the second image meets contrast ratio guidelines, a higher contrast ratio significantly enhances readability, making the text more accessible to all.
Here’s a colour contrast checker I like that will even enhance the background or text colour to give a higher contrast ratio. You’re looking for at least 4.1 to meet basic accessibility requirements.
4. Left justify text in your documents
Justified and center-justified text alignments can disrupt visual eye tracking and cause us to skip lines or words as they force us to jump gaps, or lose our place on the page as we track back to the start of the next line.
It can cause 'walls of text' for individuals with various forms of neurodivergence. This challenges their visual tracking and attention, and impacts their ability to effectively read and engage with written content.
It can also impact the usability of assistive technology.
The simple solution is to left-justify text! And break up text into smaller, more digestible chunks.
5. Avoid italics
Italics alter the shape of letters and decrease the contrast between letters. We have to work harder to recognise the letters and require additional cognitive effort. ie. It slows down our reading and impacts comprehension. It particularly impacts those with dyslexia but also those with ADHD and/or autism.
The odd word here and there is fine but large blocks of italics should be avoided. Yes, even for quotes! We have beautifully rich ways of presenting visuals. Let's find other ways to draw attention to quotations visually if needs be.
Drop us an email if you’re interested in learning more about being more neuroinclusive in your everyday digital lives."
Emma 🙂