Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day and Improving Digital Accessibility
Learning how designing digital environments with accessibility in mind enables people with cognitive disability and Down syndrome to participate equitably.
World Down syndrome Day (WDSD) — a global awareness day officially recognised by the United Nations is celebrated every year on the 21st of March.
The theme for WDSD 2025, ‘Improve Our Support Systems’, highlights the need to strengthen the structures that enable people with Down syndrome to participate fully in society.
Creating websites, applications, and online platforms that are designed to be accessible is an essential aspect of ensuring this full participation.
In this article we will look at:
- What is Down syndrome
- Ways in which the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) techniques can assist people with Down syndrome in accessing the digital world
- Additional ways accessibility can be implemented to improve the experience for people with Down syndrome beyond WCAG
Removing digital accessibility barriers that impact people with Down syndrome improves digital products and services for everyone. What is essential for some to navigate the online world, benefits everyone.
About Down syndrome
Down syndrome is a genetic condition that is often misunderstood. It is related to the presence of an extra chromosome 21 (full or partial). Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 in total). People with Down syndrome have 47 total chromosomes.
A few key facts about Down syndrome from Down syndrome International:
- Around 1 in every 800 babies will be born with Down syndrome.
- People who have Down syndrome usually have an intellectual disability. This is different in each person.
- Some health conditions are more common in people with Down syndrome.
- Down syndrome occurs naturally – there is no known cause. (Source: World Down Syndrome Association)
Remember, nobody experiences any disability in the same way and so every person’s experience will be different.
Digital Accessibility
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a framework of principles, guidelines, and success criteria to help design and evaluate websites for accessibility. These guidelines include criteria that address the needs of users with cognitive disabilities.
Support for people with cognitive disability, including those with Down syndrome, has expanded as WCAG has evolved. With the release of WCAG 2.2 in 2023, new success criteria were introduced to specifically enhance accessibility for users with cognitive impairments.
Not everyone with Down syndrome experiences digital access in the same way. Some individuals may rely on assistive technologies such as text-to-speech software, screen readers, or speech-to-text tools to navigate online content.
There are several key success criteria and guidelines that are designed to assist people with cognitive disability which we will now explore.
Giving people enough time to complete tasks
Enough time is a WCAG Guideline, containing several important success criteria that ensure people are given sufficient time to complete tasks. For people with Down syndrome and other cognitive disabilities may need additional time to complete tasks such as filling in forms or completing a task such as completing a purchase.
WCAG provides criteria to assist including:
- 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable (Level A): If a website imposes a time limit, users must have a way to turn it off, extend it, or adjust it.
- 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A): Users should be able to pause or stop moving, blinking, or auto-updating content (e.g., carousels or auto-refreshing notifications) to ensure they have enough time to process the information.
Accessible Authentication and Reducing Additional Entry
WCAG 2.2 saw the addition of a number of criteria relating to ensuring there are accessible authentication method and to reduce additional data entry. Specifically:
- 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication (Level A) – Provides alternative authentication methods that do not require complex cognitive steps, such as password managers.
- 3.3.8 Redundant Entry (Level A) – Information entered once in a process should be auto-populated for subsequent steps to reduce cognitive load.
Cognitive disabilities such as Down Syndrome can impact a person’s memory. Trying to remember a long password can be problematic. This criterion ensures that another option is available to users which does not require complex thinking.
Apart from being time consuming, asking for the same information in a process multiple times can cause confusion and increases the risk of errors for multiple re-entries.
Consistency and Predictability
Consistency is crucial for users with cognitive disabilities, as it reduces mental load and helps them navigate digital environments confidently. There are a number of WCAG success criteria that assist to ensure there is consistency across different parts of a website or digital content, including:
- 3.2.6 Consistent Help (Level A) – Websites should have at least one help feature in a consistent location on all pages.
- 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation (Level AA) – Navigation menus should appear in a consistent order across web pages.
- 3.2.4 Consistent Identification (Level AA) – Functional components should be labelled consistently.
People with cognitive disabilities may rely on a number of help features including inline help, help searches or bot interactions to understand the site they are using and aid their understanding. By ensuring at least one help method is available, operates in a consistent way and is in the same place on all pages, users can reduce their mental load and find help easily when they need it. The same goes for navigation and identification - ensuring there are consistent ways of identification and navigation order allows for ease of understanding.
Failure to ensure consistency in these ways could lead to users being unable to find the information they need and move away from the site.
Content reading level and avoiding complex words
Ensuring digital content is easy to read and understand is essential for accessibility, particularly for individuals with Down syndrome, who may experience challenges with reading comprehension. These criteria include:
- 3.1.5 Reading Level (Level AAA) – If content requires reading skills beyond lower secondary education, a simplified alternative should be provided.
- Criteria 3.1.3-3.1.6 (Level AAA) – Deals with ensuring difficult words, abbreviations and pronunciation of words is easy to understand.
To improve readability, avoid jargon, unnecessary abbreviations, and complex sentence structures. Providing definitions for uncommon terms and use plain language.
Supporting text with simple images or icons can further aid understanding, known as easy read - which is discussed in the next section.
Beyond WCAG: Additional Best Practices for Digital Accessibility
While WCAG provides a solid foundation, accessibility goes beyond simply WCAG conformance. Here are additional best practices to enhance digital experiences for people with cognitive disabilities.
Providing Easy Read translations
Easy Read is a form of content that uses simplified language with short sentences and familiar words. It includes images or icons to reinforce meaning that reinforce the meaning of the written text.
Easy read follows a range of fundamental principles, but key is that it avoids jargon and complex metaphors.
User Testing with people with Down syndrome
Engaging in user testing goes beyond just guidelines and provides insight into how users access your content. In this case, it is important to engage with people with Down syndrome and seek their feedback on your website or digital product.
This will allow additional barriers to be identified and to improve usability in ways that may not be possible otherwise.
What can you do this World Down Syndrome Day?
Remember, digital accessibility isn’t just about conformance —it’s about inclusion, independence, and equal opportunity.
How can you contribute this WDSD? Here are some suggestions:
- Learn more about Down syndrome and read some of these resources at the end of the article
- Undertake an accessibility audit of your website, app or digital product to check conformance with WCAG (get in touch with us for more information)
- Consider the translation of some of your public facing material into Easy Read
- Enrol in training on digital accessibility and how you can implement WCAG across your digital environments (see our training offerings)
By implementing WCAG 2.2 standards and adopting best practices like Easy Read, user testing, we can create a digital world where people with Down syndrome and other cognitive disabilities can engage meaningfully and confidently.