Interruptions
Interruptions can be postponed or suppressed by the user, except interruptions involving an emergency.
In plain language
People should be able to postpone or turn off interruptions (like content updates or alerts) whenever they want — except for genuine emergency messages.
Why it matters
An interruption in the middle of a task — a notification popping up, content refreshing — can throw off someone with attention or cognitive difficulties, or make a screen reader user lose their place entirely. Giving control over non-urgent interruptions lets people focus without being derailed.
In practice
Fails this criterion
A news site automatically refreshes its headlines every 30 seconds with no way to turn it off, repeatedly interrupting screen reader users mid-read.
Meets this criterion
The same site has a setting allowing users to postpone all non-emergency updates and alerts until they choose to check for them.
Test it yourself
Look for anything that automatically updates or interrupts you while using the site (notifications, auto-refreshing content). Is there a way to postpone or turn these off? If not, and they're not genuine emergencies, this criterion is failing.