Accessibility Improvements (Autism, ADHD, SPD, etc.)

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Kate D.

July 12, 2019 21:18

I have a few suggestions for improving the user interface (UI) of Khan Academy and would like anyone to add on whatever ideas they have.

1. Themes (dark and pastel). I know there are a ton of requests for dark themes, and yes I have up-voted them all, but I would like to reiterate it here as a principal of universal design. Allow changing the overall color theme to reduce eye fatigue and improve concentration. I would prefer a dark grey theme, but others might want dark blue, and as this post brilliantly points out on modern OLED screens a pure black background would save a ton of energy. It's much easier to stare at a screen for a long time if it's not white. Also some dyslexics prefer different color themes and certain fonts, particularly pastel. If you are on a public computer it may be difficult or impossible to change it on a browser level so an option in settings would be awesome.

2. Written Lessons: Increase the amount of written summaries in math. As an autistic, I personally process written information much easier than verbal information, and other autistics (or people with sensory processing issues) have said that they often use subtitles on videos. More options for how to present the same information would allow a diverse student population to find what works best for them.

3. On the topic of subtitles, often I have to toggle them on and off repeatedly because the text covers important information on the video. This is a major pain, but I don't know what could be done other than leave a small bottom border on future videos. This awesome post mentions how to change settings on YouTube subtitles so that may help some people a bit.

4. Non-Graded Review Options (PLEASE!!!). I have ADHD as well and need to periodically review material. I currently know of no option to review the material without losing my progress if I make a mistake. It feels like a huge liability to go back and knock the rust off when I know I'm going to get a few wrong at first. I would like a review challenge, something like a mastery challenge, where when whatever questions I get wrong I can have the option of reviewing the material with practice questions, without it affecting my progress/grade.

That's all I can think of right now, but please add in ideas of you own. Thanks :)

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4 comments

Kate D.

July 12, 2019 21:41
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OK, I found some Firefox Extensions that work well on Khan Academy. It wont help people who don't have rights to install extensions on public computers, but it's something.

Dark Reader Firefox extension: Tested and works on KA including written lessons and video pages, but it only does grey which won't help battery life on OLED monitors, nor help dyslexics and others who may prefer pastel.

Mobile Dyslexic Firefox extension: Tested and works on KA written lessons, questions, and quizzes.
Mary Cookson

July 13, 2019 13:04
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My daughter has extreme anxiety and struggles with the tests. She knows the material, but when she has to answer 5 correctly in a row, she simply feels too much pressure to answer. It’s torture for her. I’d like some way to waive the test requirement. It’s the only negative she is experiencing.
Kate D.

August 17, 2019 23:41
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I totally agree about the test anxiety, I had to just tell myself it doesn't matter, but it is discouraging when you are learning the material. If you get the first one wrong because of a silly mistake, it feels like it doesn't matter if you get the next four right, because you have to start over again anyway. I would prefer it if you didn't need to get 5 in a row, but you could just keep doing problems as long as you want and it would chime if you get 5 in a row or something. Even the mastery challenges are scored more fairly, if you get one wrong it only affects that specific skill. Causing test anxiety everyday is not going to help those of us who experience it.
carol

April 22, 2022 19:10
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As part of our Support Community improvement project, we’re preserving inactive posts that have historical or community value and closing them to new comments. This is one of them!

If this post covers a topic that you’re interested in discussing with the community or requests a feature you’d like to see on Khan Academy, you can try to find an active post about it and add your thoughts (or feel free or create a new post if it doesn’t yet exist in the forum).

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Accessibility Improvements (Autism, ADHD, SPD, etc.)

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