7 neurodivergent disorders to consider when writing and designing your UX
As UX professionals, our biggest superpower is our empathy or being able to imagine ourselves in the shoes of the user. We do our best to envision ourselves on the user journey and understand how they might be feeling, what their pain points or challenges are, and we try to build experiences that make it easier for them to reach their goals. It’s sort of the whole point of the job. But it’s a bit ambiguous without really understanding who our users are and keeping the outliers in mind when it comes to accessibility.
Consider the Neurodivergent
Earlier this year, at 37 years old, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Before a year ago, I had no idea my brain functioned differently from others’. I thought it was normal to have about 8 trains of thought going on at once. I thought everyone was like me and worried about what a friend might say in response to me arriving 10 minutes late and running through a series of conversational responses so I would be prepared to explain myself upon arrival. I just figured losing your phone or keys on a daily basis in your own home was just because I was overwhelmed and forgetful. Well, it turns out that not only are those a few examples of symptoms of ADHD but that I was far from being alone.
Neurodiversity is a term that is used to describe people who exhibit behaviors and characteristics of neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ASD (autistic spectrum disorder), or Tourette’s syndrome. While 17% of the population are reported to be diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition, it is estimated that between 30% and 40% of the population are neurodiverse. (ADHDaware.org)
As UX professionals, we should always try and consider the user’s mindset at every possible touchpoint with our product. I encourage all UX writers and designers to consider the following conditions when developing user personas. It can help a significant portion of your users feel heard, seen, and valued regardless of whether they were as fortunate as I was to be able to seek out a diagnosis.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD
ADHD is a complex brain disorder that is typically characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity due to under-stimulation of the brain. ADHD has three different subtypes; inattentive, hyperactive, and combined type. ADHD often coexists with other conditions such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, depression, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).
Every ADHDer is different, but I’ve learned quite a bit about it recently through extensive research. People with ADHD, like myself, struggle in the following areas:
- Motivating themselves to be productive
- Feeling guilty about not getting things done
- Poor time management
- Being impulsive
- Poor financial management skills
- Anger or trouble regulating emotions
- Talking a lot / oversharing
- Executive dysfunction: the ability to plan, problem-solve, organize, even for basic needs
- Hyperfocus: sometimes it’s great, but not when it’s on the “wrong” task
- Trouble sleeping
- Losing items or forgetting things
- Building new habits
Challenges and accessibility tips:
I can speak from experience when I say that it’s usually a struggle to learn a new skill, technology, or adopt a new routine. It’s not impossible, it just takes an overwhelmingly strong desire and commitment. But once they break through into habit territory, they’re in for the long-term.
ADHD users like reminders, but many of us also don’t like being told what to do (see ODD). Notifications/alarms are their friends but if delivered too frequently will be ignored. Routines need to be opted into and reinforced. Distractions should be minimized or they could deter the user from accomplishing a task, dropping engagement.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability affecting an individual’s ability to process written language. Every user with dyslexia will exhibit a different set of symptoms, but most will need to work harder to learn how to read and write. “People with dyslexia have trouble matching the letters they see on the page with the sounds those letters and combinations of letters make. And when they have trouble with that step, all the other steps are harder.” (dyslexia.yale.edu)
Challenges and accessibility tips:
Dyslexia is very common, affecting 20% of the population and making up 80–90% of all those with learning disabilities. From an accessibility perspective, there’s, fortunately, a lot that we can do to help people out who have dyslexia:
- Font choice
- Text spacing
- Consistent layout
- Use of clearly marked required fields
- Clearly indicating current page location
- Screen-reader friendly heading structure
Visit this Harvard University page on digital accessibility for dyslexia for more tips.
Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD
ASD is a “developmental disability caused by differences in the brain.” (CDC.gov) It’s characterized by “persistent differences in communication, interpersonal relationships, and social interaction across different environments.” (autism-society.org)
Challenges and accessibility tips:
Depending on where individuals are on the spectrum can determine how much they suffer from certain symptoms. Here are some of the struggles that we can keep in mind:
- Can be distressed by any changes in an established routine, schedule, or pattern
- Prefer structure and predictability over spontaneity or surprises
- Can experience sensory overload, including busy interfaces with irrelevant images or unstructured copy
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia, also known as developmental coordination disorder or DCD is a disorder that affects movement and coordination. “Typical symptoms include clumsiness, poor spatial awareness, forgetfulness, and difficulty mastering motor skills. In a formal learning or professional environment, common difficulties can include being overwhelmed by information, problems with spelling, and struggling to read and process information at the same rate as others.” (reciteme.com)
Challenges and accessibility tips:
Although it affects gross motor skills and not someone’s intelligence, people with dyspraxia often struggle with sensory overload. Pay special attention to:
- Overly busy screens
- Color contrast: black text on a white background is particularly hard to read
More on dyspraxia and web accessibility
Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia is a learning difficulty that affects people’s ability to do basic mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). People with dyscalculia often take longer to work with numbers and can easily make mistakes. Some adults refer to themselves having “math anxiety,” where they see numbers and they just freeze.
Challenges and accessibility tips:
There is not a lot that currently exists surrounding the topic of dyscalculia and accessibility, but we can use our imaginations.
- Avoid using CAPTCHA problems that involve arithmetic
- Only incorporate numbers and equations when absolutely necessary
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, RSD
While not technically a disorder or a medical diagnosis, it is a common symptom associated with ADHD that deserves some special consideration. RSD is extreme emotional sensitivity and pain triggered by the perception that a person has been rejected or criticized by people whose opinions matter greatly. “Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria can mean extreme emotional sensitivity and emotional pain — and it may imitate mood disorders with suicidal ideation and manifest as instantaneous rage at the person responsible for causing the pain.” (additudemag.com)
People with RSD can have social phobias where they hold back from interacting with others because they fear not being accepted. This can be a huge impediment to any interaction within a digital product that involves a requirement to interact with another human. It has some similarities in this way to social anxiety disorder.
Challenges and accessibility tips:
- It can be extremely difficult for someone experiencing RSD to try something new for fear of failure.
- The fear of rejection can result in very strong emotional reactions or breakdowns that may lead to them giving up or quitting
- Things that can trigger RSD include:
- Rejection
- Teasing
- Criticism, no matter how constructive
- Negative self-talk prompted by a real or perceived failure
- We can help a user with RSD by providing positive reinforcement and encouraging them not to give up when it seems like they’ve dropped a habit
More on Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ODD
ODD is a pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior displayed toward authority figures. In adults, it is often associated with ADHD and can result in regular loss of temper, road rage, or physical or verbal abuse. People with ODD actively defy authority and refuse to comply with rules and laws. They report feeling angry all of the time and may resist doing things that are expected of them, preferring to pave their own path instead.
Challenges and accessibility tips:
- Voice and tone can have a big impact on someone with ODD. They will likely be more open to accepting direction from the voice of a perceived equal compared to that of an authority figure
What can we learn from this
It’s hard to build the perfect product and please your entire audience all the time, but the important thing to take home from this is that a significant portion of the population does not follow “neurotypical” rules or expectations. They may float somewhere beyond how we expect a “normal user” should act, react, or behave. They may drop out because they feel overwhelmed by too many choices, or they may give up on our product because we unknowingly make it too hard for them to figure out what to do next.
We must serve them by not forgetting about them. We must make them a part of the conversation.
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