Whenever my favourite bands announce a new album, or an upcoming tour through sharing an image on social media, I’m left reading replies from other fans in an attempt to put the puzzle pieces together.
That’s because their content isn’t accessible for blind and partially sighted people like me.
As a blind fan, I also want to feel that buzz. Yet, I’m left feeling excluded.
Take an image of a band’s upcoming tour, for example. All it needs is alt text, detailing what’s in the image to make me feel part of the action.
Alt text is a written description of an image, making it understandable to blind and partially sighted people. It’s read by my screen reader, which reads what’s on the screen out loud.
That feeling of exclusion is something I feel most days when using social media.
While social media might be filled with the latest funny memes or TikTok challenges, for many of us, it’s more than that.
I’m registered blind, and I see social media as a way of connecting with my community, educating others and as a platform for helping to make the world become a more accessible place.
I was born at 24 weeks. As a result, I developed a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity. I can only see light and dark. My blindness has helped shape me into the person I am today, carving out many aspects of my life.
Looking back at my teenage years, finding the incredible online disabled community helped 16-year-old Holly find the beauty in her disability.
I’m always travelling up and down the country to meet up with my friends, and I cherish spending time with them.
Social media has brought so much good into my life, but it can be horribly frustrating due to a lack of alt text, inaccessible videos, or simply not being able to read posts because of the use of fancy fonts or formatting issues.
I will often resort to asking my friends or family for help including describing a video or image to me, taking away my independence.
It’s 2023, yet I’m regularly left feeling frustrated by not being able to fully explore the online world in the same way as my sighted peers.
When an image doesn’t have alt text, my screen reader will just say ‘image’, which gives me no idea of what others are seeing.
It’s equally bad when trends like the ‘click here’ meme emerge using the alt text function to place an inside joke, rather than for its intended purpose.
Accessibility isn’t a joke.
That’s why shining the spotlight on last month’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day was so important – accessibility impacts every pillar of my life, and days like this seek to educate people on the importance of it.
Although we still have a long way to go for social media to be fully usable, we’re making progress. The coin has begun to flip, and I feel included. That’s how it should be.
Every social media platform has information on making your posts more uder-friendly such as adding alt text. We can all play our part in making the world more accessible. Every single one of us. Collectively, we have the power to make it the norm.
So, why not start by improving your own social media output?
Add alt text to your images by adding a written description. Don’t exclude blind people from visual content.
To me, a good image description isn’t a novel, but includes the key detail so I can paint a picture in my head. It has any text written out in the description, and intended jokes or emotions are shown too.
Crucially, it doesn’t leave me with questions or wanting to know more.
Talking of alt text, don’t forget to describe those memes and gifs! We want to join in the joke, as well.
Make your videos accessible. Add a voiceover, describe what you’re doing, or add a written video description. While you’re there, add captions to your videos.
Avoid those fancy fonts. Screen readers will either say ‘bold/italic’ or skip them altogether. So my screen reader won’t thank you for it, neither will I.
Do hashtags ever look jumbled to you? To me, they’re worse. Capitalising the first letter of each word makes them easier to read.
You might think using lots of emojis will be fun. Screen readers read out the name of every single emoji you include in your posts, so it’s best to limit yourself to one or two per post. Do you really need more than that, anyway?
Scrolling through my feed and exploring content at my fingertips gives me freedom and independence, and small changes like those listed above can make a big difference to people like me.
Let’s work together and make social media more accessible for everyone.
To find out more about how you can make social media accessible for blind and partially sighted people, read RNIB’s guide at rnib.in/AccessibleSocialMedia.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
Share your views in the comments below.
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