Why it matters to you as a consumer
Imagine, you are late from work, heading towards daycare to pick your child up. On the way home, you have to pass by your local grocery store to buy some ingredients for dinner. Your child is tired and immediately starts to ask for some cookies, since they are on display close to the entrance. You didn´t have time to write down the ingredients you need for your vegetarian pasta but it was not that many things so it should not be a problem. You know the store and take your usual turn, picking up some extra stuff like breakfast ingredients, toilet paper and some fruits on sale. You pay, pack your things and head home. When you unpack your bags you realize that you forgot to buy pasta, the main ingredient. Recognize the situation and the frustration?
You believe that you will be able to remember five ingredients, cope with the stress in the store and your focus shifting from your mental shopping list to the offers presented to you, not getting disturbed by the background music and also keep calm while your child is screaming for attention and run for the candy before you are done with your shopping. All together it´s not so surprising that you forgot the main ingredient. If you in addition had a bad night´s sleep, is stressed at work or have some kind of cognitive impairment the situation can feel unmanageable and you might not be able to pass by the store at all.
What we do
At the Swedish Consumers' Association, we want to raise awareness about cognitive accessibility as an important factor for safe, conscious and sustainable consumption in both retail- and online stores. A cognitively accessible environment is important for everyone, though necessary for a consumer with cognitive impairments.
Are you or your organisation interested?
We have developed a factsheet, a list of methods on how to address cognitive accessibility, infographics for social media and an animated film with English subtitles.
We can provide you with the originals if you want to translate the infographics into your language.
11 december, 2017