Identify Known Risks

6 minute read

Last updated: Oct 2, 2026

Making the wrong choice on a form can have unintended personal or financial consequences. People must be aware of any risks resulting from their actions on a website. Disclosing consequences up front helps people avoid mistakes, lets them feel secure when submitting forms, and helps to build trust in your brand.

Overview

You may remember a time when a poorly worded question in a form led you to respond incorrectly. If you were fortunate, you realized your mistake and corrected it without ordering the wrong product or scheduling a flight with a layover when you wanted nonstop.

Forms can challenge all of us at times. They are not always designed well or worded clearly. In some cases, forms are intentionally deceptive. Making the wrong choice on a form can cost money, violate privacy, or have other unintended consequences. Filling out forms when the consequences of an action are unclear or have unexpected results is more than annoying. It can have real-life consequences, especially for people who do not understand what happened or how to recover from it.

Avoid asking for personnel or financial information without explaining why.

People may wonder:

How will it be used?
Who will see it?

Example: People may wonder if supervisors will see personal medical information requested by HR.

Avoid asking people to take an action without explaining its consequences.

People may wonder:

Will they achieve the desired result?
What steps do they need to take?
How will they know if something has gone wrong?

Example: A person booked a hotel in New Jersey when they thought they were booking one in New York. What went wrong?

You must be aware of any results from actions taken within your forms and explicitly communicate those consequences to your users. Disclosing consequences upfront helps people with cognitive disabilities make independent decisions and avoid mistakes. This understanding is critical when decisions involve personal or financial security. Knowing they understand the consequences of an action lets these individuals feel secure when submitting forms.

One other consideration is to make sure the form is really needed. Would providing an email “contact us” link work as well as a form? Providing a simpler alternative, when it’s appropriate, can eliminate the risk inherent in forms.

Who is Helped

Some people with cognitive and learning disabilities can become confused and make mistakes when forms are unclear. This reaction is particularly true in a form where a person must answer questions or make decisions, but the form does not spell out the consequences of their actions. When these individuals have a problem filling out a form, they often assume they are the problem — not the form. If they become too confused, they may give up and leave, even when the need is vital, such as requesting a necessary prescription.

Guidelines

Disclose risks associated with the overall form up front.
- Locate the explanation at the beginning if it impacts the entire form.
- If the risk only applies to one section, locate the explanation at the beginning of that section.
- If applicable, explain the consequences of not completing the form.
Example: A long application form for college admission includes a section asking for financial data. At the beginning of this section, the form tells students that they must submit all financial data to be considered for financial aid.
When personal information is collected, explain its use at the beginning of the form.
- Explain how you will use the information.
- Identify how long you will retain the information.
- Identify who you will share the information with.
- If applicable, explain the consequences of not sharing personal information.
Example: A company’s form collects information about an employee’s disabilities. At the beginning of the form, an explanation tells employees that only the Office of Reasonable Accommodations will see their data, retain the data for the length of their employment, and use the data to determine eligibility for reasonable accommodations. The form tells employees that if they opt not to share their disability status, they cannot receive an accommodation.
Disclose consequences associated with a specific action at the point where the action occurs.
- Provide a clear explanation of each option’s benefits, risks, and consequences next to the action.
- Ensure the explanation is easy to find.
Disclosure is critically important when people might not be able to understand the results of incorrect choices or correct them, or they can lead to potential safety risks.

Example: An airline company offers two prices for different flights to the same destination. Next to the cost of each flight, the website discloses that the less expensive flight is late at night and the more expensive flight is during the day. Unfortunately, buyers must click through two more links before discovering that the less expensive flight also has a long layover while the more expensive option is a direct flight. If shoppers opt for the less expensive flight without navigating to the more detailed information, they could buy the ticket without being aware of the layover.
Do not hide risks by burying explanations in text, putting them on a separate page, or any other similar technique.

Example: A site selling laptop computers has some computers with slightly different model numbers listed at a much lower price. The fact that these are used computers rather than new ones is buried in the product description and easily missed. Even more hidden is the fact that used computers are not returnable. This information is on a separate page explaining the site’s return policy. You will not know this risk exists if you do not go to the return policy page. The website should clearly state that the lower-cost computer is used and can not be returned at or before the point where a person would add this item to their cart.
Do not change a person’s original selections without warning them.

Example: A grocery store website has a policy page that explains substitutions will be made for items that are out of stock, but there is nothing on the page where people order the groceries that mentions this. Shoppers are surprised when they do not get the items that they ordered.
When a person makes a mistake filling out a form, they should always receive clear feedback and an easy way to correct the mistake.

Not providing clear feedback or an avenue for correction when an error occurs can create risks for people.

See Validation and Feedback (Ta11y) for more information on this topic.

How to Test

Identify any actions in your form that could create risks for people using the form.

Ensure there is a clear explanation of the benefits, risks, and consequences of these actions.

Ensure information that explains the risks is easy to find.

Disclose risks that affect the overall form at the beginning of the form.
Disclose risks that affect a specific section of a form at the beginning of that section.
Disclose risks that affect a specific action alongside that action.

Ensure information that explains any risks is clear and complete.

Ensure the explanation of risks covers any changes to the user’s original selections.