No one chooses to be disabled, sometimes it’s just a terrible accident waiting to happen.
And that’s what happened to me, I was seven when I broke my arm and my life would never be the same again.

I’m here to show you how to make your blog, websites and social media more accessible. Before I lost my sight completely in 2013 I was naive and ignorant, I had blind friends who used computers and the Internet every day, but I never once asked how they did it or if there was anything I could do to help make things easier.

Sometimes all we need is education and a nudge in the right direction, I’m here to help you learn how to make your blog website and social media more accessible so you can be more inclusive and disability friendly.

*Updated May 2023How to make your blog and website more accessible

Use Alt Text

Alt text is another word for alternative attributes, photo/image description, captions or setting the scene.
Imagine your loved one showing you a photo, but telling you to keep your eyes closed and guess what the picture is of, without giving you any background information or context. Now imagine that same person is saying very loudly in your ear a random bunch of numbers and letters, incoherent but unrelenting, that’s pretty mind-boggling isn’t it?

That’s what me and millions of other blind people around the world are negotiating every time we are on your website and you do not add alt text descriptions.

How do you fix the alt text nightmare?

Explain what is in the image, without keyword stuffing or copying and pasting the title.
Now imagine that very same photo your loved one has presented to you, they have told you to keep your eyes closed, but built The scenario; painted a vibrant picture of scenes, colours and emotions, they have transported you there, through their words yet your eyes have never lay specifically on it.
Use details and distinction, and if you don’t know if it’s enough, imagine yourself back in this situation and unable to see, The words will come.

Try to use the following format who, what, where, when and why.
Who is in it? He/ She/ They. Tall/ short. POC/ white.

What are they doing? Smiling/dancing/looking off into the distance.

Where has the picture been taken? At the beach/on the ski slopes/ up a mountain.

When was the picture taken: day/night?

Why did you take this picture?
What feelings do you want to evoke from your audience. Being detailed means that blind people can also understand the full context.

Label all links/buttons

For example if I wanted to share your post on Facebook or Twitter, then the button would be share, and the link would be the name of the social media platform, lots of people do not have this on their blog and it’s understandable that they don’t realise it isn’t accessible, but it is something I try and tell people if I notice it.

Label comment/subscription boxes

At least 3/4 of blogs don’t have accessible comment boxes. Essentially if they do not have Asterix next to them for example Name* Then you can all most guarantee that the comment box isn’t screen reader friendly.
The blank areas where you write your name, email address, comment are called edit field or radio buttons, if they are labelled correctly blind people such as myself can leave you comments.

Cluttered websites and no headings

Over cluttered websites mean that people who use magnification software or have cognitive impairments will find your website more difficult to navigate. Using headings on your website not only breaks up the text, but it allows those who use keyboard shortcuts to scale your blog/ website quickly.

Use clear fonts

Make your font large and clear. Swirly fonts May suit the aesthetic of your website and branding, but if people have to strain to read it, they are more likely to click off.

Use good contrast

Contrast such as a dark background and A light colour, for example, purple background and white writing will draw the readers eye, and will also help those with visual impairment.

Don’t use SWFs

SWFs are small web formats, embedded onto your blog or website which include flashing images or automatic video and sound. For people who have epilepsy, cognitive or visual impairment, this can be very uncomfortable and even distressing for the user. It’s also difficult to navigate a webpage with sound if you use a screen reader, it’s like conversing with your best friend on the phone and watching TV at the exact same time.

Capture verification

You have to give everything your absolute permission to do anything online, and it has to comply with data protection laws. But these irritating blighters seem to forget and entire audience that uses the Internet: disabled people.
Verification capture boxes with pictures to ensure that A. You’re not a robot and B. You know what you are saying yes to: only works if everyone is on the same page.
Having the check box of “I am not a robot “is sufficient, but having audio capture verification, as a back up, is also useful.
Those with cognitive or visual impairments cannot see or process The pictures, so giving alternatives makes it equal for all.

I just want to point out here that I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad, most of the time it’s actually the website developers who don’t code it correctly and this is often where these issues stem from.

How to make social media accessible

years ago I wrote a few posts about not discriminating and another about social media becoming inclusive but new blogs start every day and people are just not getting the memo.
It’s mostly about adding photo description to any images you share online. But I thought I would explain it in a clearer fashion.

Over use of emojis

Emojis make my heart happy, because they are coded correctly by developers meaning I to can use emojis to describe or accentuate a social media post. However what drives me insane is the over use of emojis on social media.
If you’re creating a status of a throwback memory and you shove 5 emojis after every couple of words, I am going to lose the plot and click off whatever status/social media platforms you are using.
Emojis are described using words, so four example if you were to use the very amused emoji 😂 The words translated are: “face with tears of joy”.
Consider you are reading a status with the words “Face with tears of joy” 5 Times in a row, it would be highly repetitive and probably extremely annoying wouldn’t it?
It would be great if you use as few emojis as possible, especially if they are the same emoji. It might look visually appealing, but I promise less is certainly more on this count.

Memes and gifs

These are photos, videos and text pictures which are generally humorous in disposition and tend to go viral.
Sadly though artificial intelligence still hasn’t caught up and pictures without photo description, videos without sound and text as a screenshot cannot be accessed or read aloud by screen readers.
You can help to make social media more accessible by explaining what the meme or gif is, referring back to alt text/photo description that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

How to Make Facebook more Accessible:

Facebook has recently rolled out their version of adding photo descriptions, known as captions. Through the method I am going to explain below. You would need to do this manually by writing it as part of the status or putting it in the first comment.

• So you make a status in the normal way and then click photo, select all the photos you want to upload, then click on the first photo.
• It’ll bring up all of the photos in a column, and under each photo there will be a box which says ‘Edit’, followed by a list on the left one of which say ‘Alternative Text’ Make sure to use custom Alternative Text and describe the image.

Mobile Version of Facebook

1:Go to the post, then tap on the photo.

2:Tap The three dots in the top right.

3: Tap Edit Alt Text.

4:You’ll see the automatically generated alt text in bold starting with Image may contain:. Tap Override generated alt text.

5:Type your alt text in the box, then tap Save.

How to Make Twitter More Accessible:

Twitter is great, they have actually created a specific image description box for you to add the description of the picture -Every time you add a photo there is an extra button that says Edit where you can edit your image but most importantly add alt text, Which means anyone like me who uses a screen reader will be able to know what the picture is of. As long as you describe it of course.

Anyone who adds a picture on Twitter then has the option of adding a description just press Edit and select the ALT option. This can be a maximum of 1000 characters. Again, this will be embedded within the photo, so people using screen readers can appreciate your photo too.

So grateful to everyone who has read and shared my @guardian peace 🥂😍 #PurpleTuesday #DisabilityMatters #DisabledBloggers pic.twitter.com/91q9FDiZzD

— Thinking out Loud (@SassyWyatt) November 19, 2018

Use Capitalisation

Adding capitalisation to each new word it is effectively like adding a space between each word.
Understandably Twitter has been going for years, and so have the hashtags , those same hashtags can trend and go viral, and the majority of them are lowercase . However if you are planning on creating your own hashtag , Please Consider Using Capitalisation in the world of digital accessibility this is know as the camel hump.

Twitter conversations

If you are in a Twitter conversation with more than two people, especially if those two people are screen reader users, please consider putting the text before you tag everyone.

Automated tweets

For those that use social media schedulers, TweetDeck and Buffer both allow you to add your image descriptions as you are scheduling. This means that even though you’re tweets will be sent out automatically, the image description will also be there!

How to Make Instagram More Accessible:

You may have noticed I write Photo descriptions/ alt text in myself.

• Create new Instagram post
• Click Accessibility
• Add Alt Text

The Alt text is specifically there for screen reader users, after you hit post if you are not a screen reader user the description will disappear for you but don’t worry its there for me and i appreciate it.

I will continue to write my photo descriptions as part of the Instagram caption because it brings attention to my sighted followers that this sort of description is inclusive, and helpful. The parenting game,  said she was inspired by my photo description on Instagram to create her own blog post on encouraging her readers to be more accessible!

Hashtags also go a very long way in supporting a screen reader user as to what your images are of, but a brief description is appreciative, not to mention inclusive.

Adding captions to Instagram

1. upload a video to Instagram
2. Under Accessibility select auto Generate captions
3. This can take a few minutes to appear after generating then position accordingly.

How to Make TikTok Accessible:

 

Step 1: Once you’ve recorded or uploaded a video in TikTok, tap the “Text” button at the bottom of the screen.
Step 2: Type your desired text, and then tap “Done” in the top-right corner of the screen.
Step 3: Tap the text you typed.
Step 4: Tap “Text-to-speech.” This will cause the application to convert this text to speech that becomes part of the video’s audio.
From there, you can continue editing your post as normal.

Adding captions to TikTok

1. upload a video to tiktok
2. click caption button on the right hand side
3. Tiktok will generate captions, check to make sure they are correct.
4. save captions and position accordingly.

How to Make Pinterest More Accessible:

Pintrest is a search engine as well as a social media platform and it imperative that you follow accessibility guidelines to make your pins screen reader friendly.

The bit of code you are adding is:

data-pin-description=”Pinterest specific description here” So when you add an image, your code will already say -->  You can then add this after it ‘data-pin-description=”Pinterest specific description here” ‘ This doesn’t work for google SEO, but is perfect for Pinterest SEO so it will look like:

data-pin-description=”Have you got left over chorizo? Do you love potato bake but want a new recipe? Click here to grab my chicken and chorizo potato bake!”

How To Make Linkedin More Accessible:

Desktop Version

• In Start a post at the top of your LinkedIn timeline, select the image icon
• Select the image you want to add
• Once the image displays, select Add description
• Add your descriptive text in the Alternative Text box. You have 120 characters to describe your image.
• Select Save in the Alternative Text box.

Mobile Version

• Create new post
• add a photo
• On the toolbar at the bottom it will sat ALT
• Add alt text describing your picture.

How To Make YouTube More Accessible:

The main way to be more inclusive on YouTube is by adding closed captions. Closed captions are written transcripts of what is going on in the video and any dialogue you may have. It is an effective way to allow anyone with a disability or non-native speaker to follow and comprehend what you are saying or doing in your video.
It’s great for SEO too:  Search engines can’t crawl video, but they can crawl text. If you want your videos to rank on Google, back your video up with captions and a transcript of the audio.

Adding audio description where appropriate.

A picture paints 1000 words but what if you have a visually impaired audience? Being part of the travel blogger community I see so many of my friends creating epic films. They let the scenery talk for itself but for someone like me who not only watches YouTube for entertainment but inspiration. Having only music and no audio through talking, or audio description (giving a visual rundown of what’s going on in the scene) can lead me to being quickly bored and clicking off your videos.
Adding a voice-over track giving a brief explanation of what is going on will not only be inclusive to any blind or low vision subscribers, it will increase your watch time, lower your bounce rates and most importantly if you implement closed captions then SEO will pick up on the text transcript and again rank you higher.

Two of my favourite travel YouTubers that incorporates natural audio description as part of their vlogs are Shu and Backpacking Bananas – just by telling your audience what’s in your room during a room tour, expressing the colourful culinary delights you are about to enjoy or what you wore on your latest world backpacking trip. These two ladies are seamlessly making their content completely blind friendly whilst still being entertaining and informative.

Resources to help your blog and website  become more accessible and inclusive.

Most blogs are being indirectly discriminative, and not just to visually impaired people. People with other sensory impairments, motor skill problems and cognitive issues may also be negatively affected by your lack of accessibility on your blog or website.

If you are unsure whether or not your website or blog is indirectly discriminating, you can use these free tools below to check.
Please think about your potential audience before you hit publish.

For those of you who do use WordPress this is a really great plug-in to help with accessibility issues for your disabled users. 
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/

Wave Web Accessibility evaluation Tool
http://wave.webaim.org/

Tenon Accessibility as a Service
https://tenon.io/

Accessibility Consulting

I appreciate this is a lot of information to take in. As an accessibility consultant I can help your brand or business to succeeded in digital accessibility. Contact me for a  free 15 minute consultation to see how we can work together 1 on 1 and make your website and social media more inclusive.