Age-Related Functional Limitations

The gradual changes in sensory, motor, and cognitive abilities that commonly occur with ageing, including declining vision, hearing loss, reduced dexterity and fine motor control, and changes in memory and processing speed. These functional limitations often overlap significantly with disabilities addressed by web accessibility guidelines, but differ in important ways: they typically involve the gradual onset of multiple concurrent impairments, and people experiencing them often do not identify as disabled or seek disability-related assistive technologies. For web accessibility, this means that older users may face compounding barriers — such as needing larger text, simpler navigation, and more time to complete tasks simultaneously — while being less likely to use screen readers or other assistive tools that could help address individual impairments.