Presenter:         

Yulia Nemchinova; User Experience Designer/Faculty, Northrop Grumman/University of Maryland University College; USA
Title: Designing for People with Cognitive Disabilities in Language and Literacy
Day/Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location:  Fairchild
Session Type: 60 Minute Presentation
Description: The importance of accommodating visually impaired Web users is now widely recognized - yet cognitively impaired users are still largely left behind. Cognitive disabilities include conditions such as learning and language disabilities, attention disorders, traumatic brain injury, mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, cognitive issues related to aging and more. The broad spectrum of cognitive issues and lack of user research and evaluation pose immense and important challenges to us as UX practitioners. This presentation addresses design for this diverse user group, with a special focus on language and literacy disabilities fairly common in both adults and kids.
Audience: General
Track:  Design
Biography: Yulia Nemchinova has been evangelizing the importance of usability long before this word has appeared on her job title. In her day job at Northrop Grumman, she is the part of User Experience Group working on applications for the Social Security Administration. Previously, Yulia led user experience initiatives for a proprietary Learning Management System at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC). In her spare time, she teaches usability engineering at the UMUC Graduate School. Yulia has been a reviewer for both local and national UXPA conferences. She holds a Doctorate in Communications Design from the University of Baltimore.
Key Words: cognitive disability, accessibility, universal design, usability testing, assistive technology