#18: January 2022

Rest is part of being a good advocate

Jan 6

So as you may or may not have noticed, I completely forgot this newsletter existed in December. Between the holidays, the end of the semester at the college I work for, having the worst sinus infection ever, launching an online store for Social Media Tea, and winding down from a year filled with numerous speaking engagements, I was mentally and physically depleted. I didn’t even realize I had forgotten to do a December issue until halfway through the month. At that point, I knew I needed to prioritize my mental health and resting over anything else, so I quietly skipped sending out a newsletter last month.

I’m still getting back into the groove of things which is why this issue is coming to you on a Thursday instead of Monday. The exhaustion I’ve been feeling has admittedly been hard to shake.

It cannot be stressed enough that everyone should place more importance on rest and mental health, especially if they work in social media or digital marketing. The amount of vitriol and bad news we’re exposed to every day is astounding and can take its toll on you. The desire to hustle and always be working on literally anything can also be incredibly draining.

And if you’re trying to be an advocate for any cause, you cannot give your all if you’re running on empty. Rest is vital and necessary. You cannot be a good advocate if you don’t advocate for yourself first and foremost.

Since I skipped last month, this month’s issue will be a round-up of November and December. Thanks again for sticking around and letting me rest, folks. The understanding is much appreciated.

Alexa

News and Updates

CVS withdraws Supreme Court case

Remember in my last newsletter where I mentioned that CVS was attempting to dismantle anti-discrimination protections under Section 504? Yeah, they finally gave up and dropped their case.

Maria Town 🍁🍂 @maria_m_town

“As a result, we will not pursue the matter further before the Supreme Court.” CVS is withdrawing its cert petition to SCOTUS for the CVS v Doe case, which could’ve gutted section 504. When the disability community pushed back, CVS listened. #CripTheVote aapd.com/press-releases…

CVS HEALTH WILL WITHDRAW ITS CASE BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT A BLUE BACKGROUND WITH YELLOW LETTERS

Discord makes meme sharing more accessible

I’m not very familiar with how Discord works, but it’s nice to see that they’re working to make their platform more accessible!

The Verge @verge

Discord now lets you send up to 10 (accessible) memes at a time theverge.com/2021/11/19/227…

Facebook takes page from TikTok’s book

Are you familiar with TikTok’s text-to-speech feature? Yes? Well so is Facebook apparently, and they’re working to emulate it. It’s admittedly a great feature that every platform should implement.

Alessandro Paluzzi @alex193a

#Facebook is working on the Text-To-Speech (TTS) feature 👀

Twitter introduces auto-captions

This was an exciting update, and I like the bit of shade that Twitter threw in its announcement graphic. However, many users have reported that the feature is kind of buggy and doesn’t work that well when a video has embedded captions (open captions). Hopefully, Twitter will continue to tweak and improve its auto-captions feature because it’s certainly a nice one to have!

Twitter Support @TwitterSupport

Where are video captions when you need them? They’re here now automatically on videos uploaded starting today. Android & iOS: auto-captions will show on muted Tweet videos; keep them on when unmuted via your device's accessibility settings Web: use the "CC" button to turn on/off

A cat speaking with auto-captions appearing that read, “Twitter now has auto captions for videos. About time, am I right?” The screen turns blue with text overlay that reads, “@ movie theaters, your turn 👀”.

British Airways adds BSL to passenger experience

Travel and transportation can be a huge hindrance to individuals with disabilities if there’s no effort being made to have it be accessible. British Airways has become the first UK airline to trial a new video service that includes British Sign Language (BSL) to make the passenger experience more accessible for Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers.

Debra Ruh @debraruh

#BritishAirways adds British #SignLanguage option to assist in passenger experience - Economy Class & Beyond #accessibility #PwD #disabilityinclusion #accessibletransit #transportation buff.ly/3mkS11k

Learning Moments

Disability isn’t a costume or a prop

Once upon a time I found Ellen DeGeneres funny. Now I mostly just cringe at how willfully ignorant she seems to be at just about every turn. The on-screen stunt she pulled for Halloween last year was horribly ableist and offensive. Someone’s disability or the assistive technology they use isn’t a costume.

Emily Ladau @emily_ladau

You know, when I played dress-up as a kid, my wheelchair wasn't part of my costume because hey, I actually use a wheelchair and it's not a toy. This is wildly ableist and just all-around in poor taste.

Ellen DeGeneres @TheEllenShow

A look into my future… and @Official_tWitch’s too. Happy Halloween! https://t.co/4DrIKn1qGe

Think beyond your own existence

It’s sad how selfish and careless some people can be, and so often at the expense or inconvenience of the disabled community. Just like the digital world, think about how your actions impact the physical world for people besides yourself.

Emily Morison @emswheellife

This is my street, and a common sight. There is no way to get around it and it’s too heavy to move. If something that’s supposed to be good for a community makes it less accessible, I don’t think it’s good for that community at all.

Accessibility shouldn’t be extra

Why is accessibility frequently treated like an afterthought or something you need to pay extra for? Something as simple and impactful as creating accessible PDFs should absolutely be free for everyone! It would make such a difference in digital communications, especially within higher education and marketing.

Meryl Evans, CPACC 🦻 speaks at #PCMACL & #AxeCon @merylkevans

It bugs me that creating an accessible PDF @AdobeAccess requires Adobe Acrobat Professional. This is not realistic for many self-employed and small businesses. A lot of them don't want to pay for cloud services or $$$ for software. This is an #accessibility issue. Limiting #A11y

Have you recently spotted a major digital accessibility win, update, or learning moment on social media? Send it to me! I might just feature it in my next newsletter. Feel free to email me at hello@therealalexa.com or you can DM me on Twitter. My inbox is always open!

Alt Text Practice

I previously ran a weekly exercise on Twitter called #AltTextTuesday. Due to my increasing workload, I decided to move the exercise here, to my newsletter. Each month I’ll choose a different image from Pexels, and I encourage you to practice writing your best alt text for it. If you have questions or want feedback on your image description, feel free to email me!

Rows of blooming lavender bushes under a pink and purple sky. — Photo by **David Bartus**

Excellent Resources

I find some of the best tips, resources, and insights on Twitter from other creators and advocates, and I want to share them with you, too!

Twitter Business @TwitterBusiness

Want to make your content on Twitter accessible for all audiences? We've got you covered. Our head of Global Accessibility @GurpreetKaurSW, and Accessibility Content Designer Amber James share their tips and best practices.

Connor Scott-Gardner @CatchTheseWords

Here's what happens when you post a photo with no alt text on Twitter, because I think some of you don't understand what I have to do in response. First, it depends on what device I'm looking at it. 1/

Frank ⌁ @FrankElavsky

"What are examples of accessible, effective chart descriptions?" I get asked this question a LOT, so I am going to make a thread here to easily link to later. (This thread covers both simple and complex use-cases for human-authored descriptions.) Feel free to share/bookmark!

This is a screenshot of NCAM's guidelines. It is more accessible at their site (later in the thread).

Bar Chart - Horizontal

Title: How people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind or have low vision are alerted to emergencies.

bar chart

Guidelines:
While most bar charts should be converted into accessible tables, this simple chart can be presented as text in a list.
Provide the title and labels.
It is not necessary to describe the visual attributes of the bars unless there is an explicit need.

This is a screenshot of NCAM's guidelines. It is more accessible at their site (later in the thread).

Description:
The figure is a bar chart that has been converted into the following table. All data are approximate.
How people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind or have low vision are alerted to emergencies.
Table:
Response deaf/hard of hearing blind/low vision
Don't Know 70 79
Friend 59 62
Family 65 64
Co-worker 33 38
TV 102 65
Radio 30 80
Email 36 5
Web 16 4
Landline Phone 25 53
Cellphone 8 11
Pager 17 10
Smartphone/PDA 18 8
TTY 47 0
Video relay service 4 0
Phone relay service 8 0
Other 7 9

Jonathan 君劭 Suen @SuenJonathan

Here’s a friendly reminder to conduct an Accessibility check on your Power Point (PPT) presentations using the built-in feature & thru following some design principles! More here: 🔗support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/m… via @Office #DisabilityTwitter @HashtagHeyAlexa

A screenshot from a PPT presentation’s overview showing that an accessibility check rated the slides as: “Good to go”. The screenshot is annotated with this point emphasized through highlighting and adding a check-mark emoji.

Jonathan 君劭 Suen @SuenJonathan

…If I’ve hooked your curiosity today at @JHSPH_Hearing about the principles & lessons learned thru #R3ISEnetwork’s #SciComm webinar program, then check out our recordings here: 🔗https://t.co/c1Twlx98LZ via @JohnsHopkinsMMI #ScienceTwitter #AcademicTwitter @R3_GSI https://t.co/IK9Qm6IUjE https://t.co/diMT6IEnXn

Are you looking for an online community where you can learn more about accessible social media practices? Join the Facebook group I created! Accessible Social is a group dedicated to helping anyone working in social media, marketing, public relations, communications, or advertising learn more about accessibility best practices for digital content. All are welcome!

Join the Group

Scroll Stoppers

Bits of wisdom, thoughtful moments, and maybe a few pointed remarks that made me immediately stop scrolling. Hopefully, they get you thinking as well!