Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force - Work Statement

The Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force is a task force of the Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG). It assists these Working Groups with the work identified below.

• Status
• Objective
• Scope of Work
• Work Approach
• Participation
• Facilitation

Status

Objective

• Creating a roadmap exploring how to make Web content more accessible and usable by different people and groups of people with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities;
• a review of existing techniques and how they can be improved;
• the development of suggested enhancements to existing W3C specifications;
• and the development of engineering approaches and author strategies for further review.
  

Scope of Work

1. Identifying related work inside and outside of the W3C.
2. Review of existing techniques and the proposal of enhancements where needed.
3. Gathering information on different related technologies and techniques.
4. Building a repository on related research into cognition and disabilities. 
5. Building a use case repository of different cognitive disabilities
6. Use cases where, with what is available already, persons with atypical ability profiles can and do use technology-dialogs to good effect, as well as failure reports.
7. Predictions of where technology is headed.
8. Identification of stakeholders, from whom the task force can solicit ongoing feedback.
9. Guidance on building a business case,
10. Identification of resistance, risks and opportunities.

Although we may never meet all the needs, the task force will aim to make steady and continuous progress on this, through a series of efforts ranging from short-term things that can be done, to long-range efforts to do things we cannot do today.
The task force expects that suggested new methods and author strategies could be  testable or  non-testable. The task force also intends to solicit feedback and comments from the public and stakeholders throughout and to integrate feedback via W3C processes. Tests and feedback will also be used to ensure techniques and deliverables can be used by authors, tool providers, browsers, assistive technologies and of course that they give real benefits to end users.
As part of the above, the task force expects to produce the following deliverables:

1. Gap analysis
2. Roadmap document. This is likely to include suggestions for W3C specification enhancements, engineering approaches, authoring methods and procedures for review and further discussions by the PFWG and related specifications such as ARIA and WCAG.

Work approach

The Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force communications could be publicly visible.
Communication mechanisms for Task Force will include:

1. E-mail discussion takes place on the Task Force's W3C list.
2. Weekly (or more frequently, as needed) teleconferences; minutes from the teleconferences are sent to the mailing list.
3. Discussion in IRC. IRC will be utilized for taking minutes during Task Force teleconferences and will not be utilized as a primary discussion channel during teleconferences.
4. Monthly updates and feedback in PFWG teleconferences, as appropriate.
5. A wiki will be established. The wiki will be editable by task force members however, if possible it should be viewable by the public.
6. The task force may occasionally conducts Web-based surveys to poll group opinion.
7. Task Force Facilitators MAY form subteams to carry out assignments for the Task Force. The scope of these assignments will NOT exceed the scope defined herein for this Task Force. The Task Force will document the process it uses to create subteams (e.g., each subteam might have an informal "Work Statement").

Participation

Any member the PFWG may participate in the Task Force. In addition the task force will try and facilitate feedback from as many interested parties as possible.
Note for clarity: All participants of this Task Force will also be required to agree to the W3C Patent Policy for PFWG.
Participants must actively contribute to the work of the  Task Force, including:

1. 6 to 8 hours per month of Task Force work;
2. Remain current on the Task Force mailing list and respond in a timely manner to postings;
3. Participate in Task Force telephone meetings, or send regrets to the Task Force mailing list.

Members of the public who are not covered by the W3C Patent Policy can send input to the public-pfwg-comments mailing list [public-pfwg-comments archive]. Messages should clearly indicate the deliverable to which they are related and that they are relevant to the work of The Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force

Facilitation

1. PFWG Staff Contact: Michael Cooper
2. Facilitator(s): Lisa Seeman, Deque.com