Digital Accessibility for people with dyscalculia

E-commerce is growing rapidly, and more and more everyday services require us to handle prices, discounts, dates and times. But for the approximately 5 percent of the population who have dyscalculia, that kind of numerical information often becomes a barrier at the very first click. That’s something we want to change.

E-commerce, ticket booking and banking services rely heavily on the user’s ability to interpret and compare numbers. Understanding totals, fees or delivery times is central to making decisions. For people with dyscalculia, this frequently leads to uncertainty and abandoned purchases. Despite this, many of those who design and develop digital services lack knowledge of how numerical information is actually perceived. In a new project funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (BufDir), we are investigating how digital services can become more comprehensible and usable for people with dyscalculia.

New requirements – but few concrete answers

People with dyscalculia are often overlooked as the focus tends to be on reading text, if accessibility is considered at all. But the need for greater accessibility for people who struggle with numbers is becoming increasingly relevant in light of the European Accessibility Act, which requires that services such as e-commerce and banking are made understandable. European standards still lack concrete guidelines for how numerical information should be presented to work for as many people as possible.

From insight to concrete solutions

The project is grounded in real user needs and is carried out in close collaboration with people who have dyscalculia. We conduct literature reviews, in-depth interviews and a broad survey to identify recurring challenges and effective strategies. The findings will be compiled into a report, a practical guide with a checklist for designers and developers, and prototypes demonstrating what an accessible e-commerce flow can look like in practice.

The results will be published openly and followed up with webinars aimed at the industry. The goal is clear: more people should be able to complete purchases, understand terms and make decisions without numbers getting in the way.