Distractibility

A cognitive characteristic in which a person has difficulty maintaining focus on a task due to sensitivity to irrelevant stimuli in their environment. Distractibility is a feature of many conditions including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and traumatic brain injury, and can also be situationally induced by noisy or visually cluttered environments. In digital accessibility, distractibility is addressed by designing interfaces that minimize extraneous cognitive load — avoiding auto-playing media, excessive animations, pop-up notifications, and cluttered layouts that compete for attention. WCAG success criteria related to distractibility include provisions for pausing moving content and avoiding interruptions.