Cognitive A11y

---
name: cognitive-a11y
description: >-
  Cognitive accessibility pass for ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and neurodivergent
  users. Use for readability, plain language, predictability, sensory load,
  memory burden, time pressure, forms, onboarding, dashboards, docs, and flows.
---

# Cognitive Accessibility (ADHD · autism · dyslexia · neurodivergence)

`a11y-pass` covers mechanical WCAG defects. This pass asks whether someone can read,
understand, remember, and finish without avoidable cognitive cost. Profiles are friction
lenses, never diagnoses or universal rules.

## Non-negotiables (help every profile)

- **Plain and structured:** literal, front-loaded language; short chunks; summaries,
  visible steps, and progress for long work.
- **Predictable and low-memory:** consistent labels/help; no surprise changes; carry
  forward information instead of requiring recall.
- **Calm and readable:** controllable motion, no sensory overload, readable ragged-left
  type (about 1.5 line-height and 45–75ch), and no justified/all-caps blocks.
- **Forgiving:** explain fixes, preserve work, allow pause/extension, and confirm or
  undo destructive actions.

## Profile lenses

Use `references/profiles.md`. ADHD highlights distraction, progress, and save/resume;
autism predictability and sensory control; dyslexia reading support and alternatives to
text-only cues. Apply shared rules to every user, including kind, non-judgmental recovery.

## Use this skill

### Map friction before profiles

Trace one real task through interruption/error and recovery. Record observed friction and
demand, a non-diagnostic profile hypothesis, repair, and task-path proof that start,
correction, or resume became easier. Make purpose/next action skimmable; externalize
memory/progress; preserve work/time control; offer motion, density, and reading support
without changing meaning.

## Reference files

- `references/profiles.md` — profile-specific barriers and repairs.
- `references/patterns.md` — checkable cross-cutting patterns/examples.
- `references/decision-records.md` — meta-patterns + ADR rules for novel cases.

## Self-check (before claiming cognitively accessible)

- Plain, chunked, predictable, low-memory content with one clear next action?
- Calm, controllable sensory/readability conditions and kind, recoverable errors?
- Real path separates observed friction from hypothesis and proves start, recovery, or resume?

## How to deliver

Name profiles and concrete moves. This is the cognitive layer; hand technical/WCAG defects
to `a11y-pass`.

## Provenance — principle, not property
Grounded in the W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force (COGA)
"Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities" and
established neurodivergent-design practice. Independent synthesis, credited — not copied.

<!-- contract:v1:start -->
## Contract (generated)

Canonical detail: [contract.json](contract.json).

- Route: A flow imposes avoidable memory, attention, predictability, reading, or recovery load for ADHD, autistic, dyslexic, or other neurodivergent users.; avoid: The issue is only color contrast, semantic markup, or translation expansion.
- Exclude: Do not flatten personality or remove useful complexity without evidence. (+1 in contract.json)
- Stop / handoff: Stop when the task context or observed friction is unknown. (+1 in contract.json); receives [improve-existing-website, form-ux, empty-states, theming] -> sends [a11y-pass, humanize-copy, tastecheck-pass]
- Output: prioritized cognitive repair ledger preserving product voice
- Evidence: `table_with_evidence` with `status`, `reason`, `remediation`, `evidence`, `provenance`.
<!-- contract:v1:end -->