Neuro-accessible language

Fixing language barriers for neurodivergent people

I recently helped an organisation make the language in an assessment more accessible to neurodivergent people. This got me thinking about the idea of neuro-accessible language, particularly in situations where an instruction is being given. It's an an area that's often overlooked. Where the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines talk about language, the vast majority of recommendations are about making the page legible to screen reading software, or navigable without a keyboard and mouse. There's very little likely to help make written content more accessible to a neurodiverse audience. This article is a look at how we might begin to do that.

Lack of accessibility language has some serious consequences. Neurodivergent people are disadvantaged when accessing online services, learning and getting qualified. Inaccessible language is a profound barrier to us being able to participate in society. It's important to mention that this is something different from neuro-affirming language, which is vitally important too. Unlike neuro-accessible language, it's concerned with using terms that reflect lived experience and move away from pathologising and outdated understandings of neurodivergent conditions.

With that in mind, here's some things to consider in making your language more accessible. This is particularly important where you are giving instructions or expecting a specific response, such as in an application form or in an exam. Using inaccessible language in a situation where a "correct" response is expected actively excludes a wide range of neurodivergent people.

Issues to look out for

As with many improvements to accessibility, addressing these issues in your writing will make the text better for wide range of people. However, it will particularly improve things for ADHDers, dyslexics, and autistic people. Both dyslexics and ADHDers can have a hard time processing the meaning of text, and can easily make mistakes when text is unclear. Both ADHDers and autistic people tend to understand the categories and relationships of things differently to neurotypical people, so make different judgements about what's connected, when and why.

Whilst I've divided them up for ease of understanding, these issues - and their solutions - often overlap. If you're struggling to address an issue in one of the following areas, it's worth considering how it relates to the others and if there's a better way to fix it there.

Subjectivity

This one is all about judgement. Are you asking the person reading the text to make the same judgement about the situation that you do? If so, then people have to guess what you're thinking to be able to respond well. This shows up a lot when asking for estimations of amounts, or when asking for people to make value-judgements. If you ask for a "best" something, make sure you define who it's best for and in what circumstances. If you're asking people to make comparisons between groups, avoid words like "many" as they're entirely down to judgement. Instead, use things like "most likely" or "the majority of".

What makes this issue particularly difficult to address is the burden of knowledge. Once we know something, it's very difficult for us to put ourselves in the position of not knowing it. If we have a clear idea of the situation we're describing, we can easily overlook things that someone else doesn't know. That's why it's really important to test anything like this with users who don't already know the material.

If what you're asking for is true in a certain situation, but not others, be explicit about what that situation is.

Lack of Context

Giving the context to what you're asking is important because not everyone sees the world from the same perspective. By establishing the perspective you are coming from, you can make sure that the reader will not make a mistake because they've inferred a different context to the one you have.

Giving context helps address issues with scope. Issues with scope show up when the writer makes different judgements about the way things group together than the reader. We often do this automatically, but not everyone puts the boundaries in the same place. This is well illustrated by the poem "Everything on it" by Shel Silverstein. Just like the person in the poem, if you ask for something without giving the context of the situation, then you might get more than you expected!

If you're writing a longer document, then context starts before the specific request, form field, or question. Make sure that you include a preamble to the whole thing which describes the way in which the document will be used, by whom, and for what purpose. When you have a series of questions, make sure that people can go back and edit previous answers, as subsequent questions can provide new context too.

Ease of understanding

This is about being clear about what you need to do with your writing. You want as many people to be able to accurately understand what you are saying as easily as possible. You want short, to-the-point sentences. Use subject-verb-object order, active voice, and strong verbs. To make your writing easily understood, write more like Ernest Hemmingway, and less like James Joyce.

When writing instructions it's really important to be clear and direct about what you want someone to do. Ask explicitly, rather than making the reader infer how they are expected to respond. If you're following my advice above and creating context, separate that out from the request itself. Describe the situation first, and then make the request.

Another big way that you can help people understand what you mean is by giving examples. This is particularly important if you're creating something like an application form, as it gives respondents something to base their response upon. If you find creating examples difficult, it's a sign that you're not clear enough about what you want, too.

Hidden significance

Make sure that the important parts of what you're writing are clear and obvious to the reader. This is particularly important where something very specific is important. Does what you're trying to convey rely on a single word, or phrase? If so, put that in bold. Make sure that the reader knows that is the significant thing. If you've got multiple options with similar text, make it really clear which word is the different one.

For really important points, you can include some redundancy. By saying things multiple ways, there's both a greater chance of it being understood, and a lesser chance of it being overlooked. In an application form, you might do this by asking for something in a text field, and then providing a checklist afterwards to make sure everything is included.

Using these guidelines will help make your writing more accessible to a wider range of people, and remove some of the more subtle barriers that neurodivergent people face in their engagement with society. Inaccessible writing can have a huge impact on the ability of neurodivergent people to successfully access services, get work, and get qualified. Fixing the issues benefits everyone.

If you've found this article useful please share it with others. I'd also really appreciate feedback on what you found useful, what you did not, and anything I have overlooked.