Avoid contractions

[rachaelbradley]

A suggestion that when contractions are not a standard part of the language, that WCAG 3 recommend against the use of contractions. These can often be difficult for many people with learning disabilities to read. See: Digital NZ .

Issue submitted via public-agwg-comments email. Respond to email with update when addressed.

[LJWatson]

The Digital NZ guidance is based on the UK Readability Guidelines. At the time of writing (around 2020), the Readability Guidelines found no research to indicate whether positive contractions were problematic or not, but noted that positive contractions can make content more readable in some cases. Conversely, the Readability Guidelines did find research to suggest that negative contractions can cause problems for some people.

When it comes time to discuss this in more detail, it may be helpful to consider the different types of contraction, rather than a blanket "avoid contractions".