#19: March 2022

I launched something big.

Mar 22, 2022

I know, I know, I know. I skipped February and March’s issue is already two weeks late. But I have a legitimate excuse.

I was busy building something huge.

As many of you know, I’ll be releasing a full guidebook on accessible best practices for social media (coming March 31st!), and I decided last month that I needed a website to complement it.

So I built one.

Alexa Heinrich (she/her) @HashtagHeyAlexa

As the kids say, “I did a thing.” I finally decided to create a website for all the info and resources I’ve gathered over the years about accessible best practices for social media content. Everyone, please say hello to #AccessibleSocial.

accessible-social.comAccessible SocialA free resource hub for marketers, communication professionals, and digital creators who want to learn how to make accessible social media content.

Earlier this month I launched Accessible Social, a free resource hub for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, and everyday social media users who want to learn how to make their content inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. It was a labor of love because I have very limited web design skills, but I wanted to make something that I could easily update and grow.

My hope is that Accessible Social grows and evolves with the industry. I’d love to eventually have guest contributors on the site as well because I’m not the only accessibility advocate out there, and I’m certainly not all-knowing either!

Thank you to everyone who has shown support for the website so far. And thank you to Nicole Tabak, Kushaan Shah, Lia Haberman, and Matt Navarra (and anyone else I possibly missed) for featuring Accessible Social in the recent issues of your respective newsletters, as well as Amanda Natividad for mentioning the site in the SparkToro Audience Research newsletter.

Anyway, let’s get to everything that happened in January and February.

Alexa

PS: since Accessible Social was launched on March 9th, it’s been viewed more than 35,000 times by people from more than 105 countries. Like, holy shit.

News and Updates

CODA shines during awards season

Have you seen CODA yet? If you haven’t, make sure you add it to your must-watch list. The film has not only captivated audiences but it’s also managed to nab several historic award nominations (and by now, a few wins) including three Oscar noms.

Steven Aquino (he/him) @steven_aquino

I don’t know if anyone realizes it, but it is a *huge* deal that CODA got a Best Picture nomination. Sure, a feather in Apple’s cap, but more to the point, it’s encouraging to know the Academy has recognized a film in which disability plays such a pivotal role.

Troy Kotsur, who plays the patriarch of the Rossi family in CODA, is the first deaf actor to receive an Oscar nomination for an acting award. He is the second deaf actor overall to receive an acting nomination, after his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, who won in the Best Actress category in 1986. Kotsur is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category.

POPSUGAR @POPSUGAR

This #Oscar nomination is @TroyKotsur's second historic nod this awards season!

popsugar.com“CODA” Actor Troy Kotsur Becomes the First Deaf Man to Score an Oscar NominationTroy Kotsur made history as the first deaf man to be nominated for an Oscar, thanks to his role in Apple TV’s “CODA.”

Disability organizations urge DOJ to enforce web accessibility rules

This is a huge deal. More than 170 organizations basically told the Department of Justice, “Hey, a whole part of our world isn’t accessible and you need to do something about it.” And you know what, the DOJ kind of listened. Here’s to hoping we see clearer guidelines laid out for web accessibility and enforced soon.

American Council of the Blind @acbnational

“This is equivalent to enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act for the physical build environment by going door-to-door along main street," he said. The signatories of this letter want the DOJ to create enforceable accessibility standards ", shared ACB’s @crachfal

Engadget @engadget

Disability organizations call on DOJ to finalize online accessibility rules https://t.co/hQJDLNKSlH https://t.co/SWuJhxsGl0

Representation matters

Representation is such an important part of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s even more important that the people being represented have a say in that representation. This Paralympics Barbie is an excellent example of that.

Shannon Dingle, M.A.Ed. @ShannonDingle

Reminder for Olympics fans: This is a first — rather than having abled people design it all, as is often the case, Mattel contracted Sarah Will, the most decorated U.S. Paralympics Alpine skier, to make sure they got it right. And? It’s at TARGET.

target.comBarbie Para Alpine DollRead reviews and buy Barbie Para Alpine Doll at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

Learning Moments

Captions should always be available, Zoom

It really is baffling that two years into a global pandemic that has seen so many people working virtually, Zoom still makes users request that meeting hosts turn captions on. They should be a feature that is readily available for every tier of the platform! No one should have to ask for captions.

Ashlee M Boyer @AshleeMBoyer

Hey @Zoom, why does a meeting host have to be the one to enable captions in meetings? This causes so many uncomfortable problems for people that rely on captions. Attendees shouldn’t have to ask permission for accessibility.

Video accessibility is more than captions

This was such an embarrassing gaffe by the Disability Unit for the UK government and on World Braille Day of all days. It takes more than captions to make a video accessible. After all, what good are captions to someone who is blind? This video should have been narrated or a written description should have been made available.

Dr Amy Kavanagh @BlondeHistorian

I would love to learn five interesting facts about Braille @DisabilityGovUK but this video is totally inaccessible to me as a blind person. If you'd like to learn how to make your social media accessible & avoid this kind of glaring failure, I'm available for competitive rates.

Disability Unit @DisabilityGovUK

[1/6] It’s World Braille Day! Did you know? Braille is inspired by the way French soldiers used to communicate at night 🪖 Learn five interesting facts about Braille 👇 #WorldBrailleDay https://t.co/YZSmQTOR7k

Robots don’t do alt text well

Plain and simple, you should never rely on artificial intelligence to write alternative text for your images. It normally doesn’t turn out very descriptive or accessible.

Salamander Jill (Fleming) @salamander_jill

Highly recommend looking at the alt text google assigns to your photos

Robots also don’t do captions well

Much like with alt text, artificial intelligence also shouldn’t be relied on to write your video captions. Auto captions are almost always rife with errors, sometimes embarrassing and sometimes even worse.

WIRED @WIRED

The AI that transcribes spoken dialog on You Tube can sometimes render “corn” as “porn,” “beach” as “bitch,” and “brave” as “rape.”

wired.trib.alYouTube’s Captions Insert Explicit Language in Kids’ VideosThe AI that transcribes spoken dialog on the platform’s standard version can render “corn” as “porn,” “beach” as “bitch,” and “brave” as “rape.”

Have you recently spotted a major digital accessibility win 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@accessible-social.com. My inbox is always open!

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!

BCcampus @BCcampus

Are you creating course content in Microsoft Word? Let’s talk about how to ensure those documents are accessible! A thread 🧵! #Accessibility #OER #a11y (1/10)

Derek Featherstone @feather

re: lack of transcripts for podcasts. I have no affiliation with Otter.ai. A free account provides 600 minutes of free transcription each month. It won't be perfect, so you need to clean it up. There are literally no excuses. #accessibility #a11y #transcripts

otter.aiOtter.ai - Voice Meeting Notes & Real-time TranscriptionOtter.ai uses artificial intelligence to empower users with real-time transcription meeting notes that are shareable, searchable, accessible and secure.

The Big Hack by Scope @ScopeBigHack

New to web accessibility? Intimidated by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? It can be difficult to know where to start. We've put together our top articles covering #accessibility fundamentals in this thread ⬇️

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

Join the Group

Scroll Stoppers

Bits of wisdom, thoughtful moments, and maybe a few pointed remarks.

Gregory Mansfield @GHMansfield

Diversity is not diversity if it does not include disability.

Chancey Fleet 🌈👩‍🦯 @ChanceyFleet

When you alt text a picture; when you see someone about to grab me on the street and say "don't touch!"; when you warn me that a seat on the train is empty for a gross reason: these moments of micro-allyship improve my world, and i often think about them for the rest of the day.

Jurgen Donaldson @mrjd1984

Reminder. Blind people use Twitter, when you post a image and don’t use alt text, you exclude us from enjoying your content. #AltText #Accessibility

aubrey blanche (she/her) @adblanche

If you are not measuring the effectiveness of your work, you do not have a #DEI program, you have a corporate hobby.

Stacey Jenkins @StaceyofGotham

I am only going to say this once, I promise, but... Posting walls of emojis is inaccessible. Screen reader users are going to hear "green square green square yellow square" without any meaning. If you're posting your Wordle results, try screenshot + add alt text instead💕

Dale, Wyrmworks Publishing, 🐉♿⚔️Preorder NOW! @WyrmworksDale

You can’t end ableism. The daily barrage of cruel comments I get has made that clear. But by amplifying disabled voices, those who want to know better, do better, care better, can learn how to be more supportive and make each tomorrow a little better than yesterday.

Charlotte Hyde @charlhyde

I'm not 100% offended by the phrase 'tone deaf', but its use in lieu of the word 'ignorant' reveals a lot about the way some people perceive deaf people in society.

One Last Chuckle

I can’t even describe how much I adore Marlee Matlin. She’s a brilliant actress that you may recognize from the movie CODA and just incredibly funny, so it was no surprise to me that I laughed my way through this clip.