Seizure disorders are a class of neurological disability where the brain experiences a higher-than-usual amount of electrical activity 1.
Symptoms of seizures include temporary confusion, staring, muscle spasms and uncontrollable jerking, loss of consciousness, and cognitive or emotional symptoms 2.
Photosensitive epilepsy is a specific seizure disorder 3. People with photosensitive epilepsy can have a seizure triggered by flashing lights, bold, regular patterns, or moving patterns 3. Often the trigger involves brightness and darkness, such as black and white stripes, flashing lights in a dark space, etc 3.
Design Considerations
While we can’t guarantee that our designs will never cause seizures, things we can do include:
- Avoid video, animations, or transitions with flashing light sequences of 3 times or more per second 4.
- Avoid bold, contrasting visual patterns such as stripes or checks 3.
- Avoid creating stimulating images that take up the complete field of vision 3.
Additional Resources
TBD
- Photosensitive Epilepsy on WebMD[↩]
- Seizures on Mayo Clinic[↩]
- Photosensitive epilepsy on Wikipedia[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
- Accessibility Fundamentals – Disabilities, Guidelines, and Laws at Deque University[↩]