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We've had big #scicomm weeks & they communicated in a way that fences out part of the public because it is inaccessible. I'm not singling out these weeks - most of our official & gov't agencies flout ADA in this way all the time. #DisabledAndSTEM #EverydayAbleism
But I do want these #scicomm weeks not just to succeed, but to reach all the public, including disabled scientists & disabled students. So I thought I'd go into how I try to make my communications accessible. #DisabledAndSTEM
Blind/VI folks use screen reading software to access the Internet. If you do not include alt text & image description, the only thing the software says is "image". #DisabledAndSTEM
Worse, if you use emojis or special fonts in your tweet or user name, it can make your mssg incomprehensible. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM https://twitter.com/RNIB/status/1284043478951964673?s=20
So think really hard whether you need that emoji in your tweet. One is fine. More....less so. And just give up on having them in your user name because they repeat for the screen reader every time they read a thread of yours! #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
It's always important to include an image description & alt text but it's especially important when you're making an image that's primarily text. Most of the #scicomm weeks I've seen so far have tweeted schedules for the day/week that have no alt text or image description.
What's the difference between image description and alt text? Alt text is literally providing the text you put in a graphic in the alt text field as well. Image description is describing an image, whether it has text or not. https://www.americananthro.org/ImageDescriptions #DisabledAndSTEM #scicomm
Twitter's alt text field has 1000 characters (per image). Some social media allow considerably fewer characters. If you are running over your character limit, create an accessible webpage or Google Doc with the exact same info you're giving sighted people & link in the tweet.
The alt text/image descriptions stay with the tweet. So if someone copies/pastes the infographic to their own tweet - they do not take the accessibility with them. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
Organizers of various #scicomm weeks can create a public Google Drive folder with alt text/image descriptions for participants to use. Make sure you *train* people how to make accessible social media posts before you launch your week so they know to use these. #scicomm
The process for adding alt text/image descriptions differs by service, so use their Help/Support menus to find out how. Here are tips that were current as of 2018: https://veroniiiica.com/2018/11/28/how-to-write-alt-text-and-image-descriptions-for-instagram/
And another that was current as of 2018. But Twitter and FB/Insta change frequently so check current practice. https://lifeofablindgirl.com/2020/04/06/6-ways-to-make-your-online-and-offline-content-accessible-for-blind-and-visually-impaired-people/
So far I've only talked about accessibility for those using screenreading software, but there's more. Make sure any videos you have are captioned! Deaf/HH folks need this. Honestly, even people who aren't fluent speakers of the language you're speaking need this. #scicomm
Also for videos, including presentations, have audio descriptions available for blind/VI folks. (And for Deaf/blind, you'd want that description also in a transcribed form.) Basically, if your video shows something the speaker isn't describing, don't assume everyone can see it!
If you're talking while demonstrating a chemical reaction on the bench, describe the reaction even if it seems like overkill to you as a sighted person. Blind folks can't see what you think is obvious. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
Same goes for anything in a video that isn't explicitly described but is important content or nuance that sighted viewers are getting. So don't describe the random dog passing by unless it's meant to draw focus, but *do* describe colors that have symbolism, for instance. #scicomm
This goes for image descriptions as well. When the color is just decorative, leave it out because of space constraints. But when the colors in a graphic are symbolic (black, green, red; red, white, blue), describe them. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
In addition to captioning videos (or if you really really don't have the ability/knowledge to caption your videos), provide a transcript. This goes for podcasts as well. Launch the link to it simultaneously with the video/podcast. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
Colorblindness - more common than you think. In infographics where color carries meaning or helps differentiate data, look up and use colorblind-friendly palettes that allow colorblind folks to see the contrast. https://towardsdatascience.com/two-simple-steps-to-create-colorblind-friendly-data-visualizations-2ed781a167ec
Colorbrewer 2.0 for cartography: https://colorbrewer2.org/#type=sequential&scheme=BuGn&n=3
Matplotlib links to colorblind palettes and tutorials: https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html?highlight=colorblind#color-vision-deficiencies #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
Matplotlib links to colorblind palettes and tutorials: https://matplotlib.org/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html?highlight=colorblind#color-vision-deficiencies #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
I had planned to write this offline, edit, and rewrite, but these #scicomm weeks are launching so fast & inaccessibly that I had to just bite the bullet and tweet this off-the-cuff. I'm sure I must still be missing things. #DisabledAndSTEM
In any case, I'm not perfect. You likely won't be, either. But making a good faith effort is important! Just do the research, try, be humble in taking feedback from disabled folks who let you know what needs improvement in your accessibility approach. #scicomm #DisabledAndSTEM
p.s. Memes that use emojis and/or ASCII art are a nightmare on screenreaders, which read the literal names of the punctuation 1 by 1. Yet as an old school Internet person I have a soft spot for ASCII art. A compromise is to use an image of the art, with alt/text image description
p.p.s. Google Docs work with some but not all screenreaders. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/6034939?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop
Because ableism, Google Docs editing doesn't support screenreaders by default. Enable it: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6282736?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop
Because ableism, Google Docs editing doesn't support screenreaders by default. Enable it: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6282736?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Desktop
