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Today's the start of #AccessibleAdvent,a brilliant idea from @GinnyAndT where disabled people share one item a day that would make their lives more accessible. Come join me as I share one item a day that will improve accessibility for me as a blind person. #a11y
Day 1: Alt text. Alt text is a short text-based description of an image read to blind people by screen readers. Adding alt text on social media posts is an easy way to ensure your blind followers aren't left out. More info here: https://caneadventures.blog/2019/12/02/alt-text-on-social-media/ #AccessibleAdvent #a11y
Day 2: I know my guide dog is adorable, but please don't do anything that might distract him while he's working. It's a safety thing. Example: Distract him at the wrong moment and he forgets to stop at a curb, causing me to trip over the curb. That's not fun for anybody involved.
Day 3: Just listen. If we tell you something's inaccessible, hear us out. We're the experts on what we need to make things work for us.
Day 4: Emojis. Our screen readers will describe them. Just use them sparingly, as it gets tedious listening to a bunch of emoji descriptions in a row.
Day 5: Date pickers on web forms. I can all but guarantee your cute little calendar widget doesn't work with a screen reader, so don't force us to use it. I'm not saying you can't use the widget, just ensure people can type in a date if they would prefer.
Day 6: Audio description. It's an extra audio track on video content describing visuals in pauses in the dialogue. With it, I can still enjoy movies and TV. More info in this video from the @RNIB:
Day 7: Make it accessible. If you're making it, you can probably make it accessible. If @United can do it with their seat-back entertainment system, you probably can too. Check out my piece about it for @RunwayGirl for more info: https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2019/01/23/op-ed-airlines-should-follow-uniteds-lead-on-seatback-ife-accessibility/
Day 8: Accessible street crossings. That beeping noise you hear at some intersections is an audible crossing indicator. While I'm trained to know when to cross a street based on traffic sounds, these take the guess work out of it. More info:
Day 9: Tables on websites. Despite what you may have heard, using a table on a website is fine as long as you do it correctly. Just don't use them for design and be sure to add things like headers. More info: https://webaim.org/techniques/tables/data
Day 10: If it's rainy, windy, or otherwise unusually noisy, give us a little extra patience getting around. Since we partially rely on sound for orientation unusual noises can be a little disorienting.
Day 11: Guide dogs. With incredibly rare exceptions, my guide dog can go pretty much anywhere I go. And I'm stubborn enough to stand my ground on a refusal to make that point.
Day 12: Yes, I'm a sports fan. In a previous post, I mentioned audio description. Radio broadcasts of sporting events are basically the sports equivalent of AD since the broadcasters are working on an audio-only medium.
Day 13: Restaurants really should have their menus available online. Being able to pull up a menu on my iPhone and decide what I'd like to order is so much better than someone reading it to me.
Day 14: Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo can be great for blind folks. For example, I can control our smart thermostat and alarm system with ours.
Day 15: Social distancing is hard if you can't see. Guide dogs and other mobility techniques aren't designed with this in mind. If you see a blind person and can give them space, please do.
Day 16: Some smartphone apps can be incredibly useful for blind people. I wrote about Seeing AI, a free app from Microsoft, for Cane Adventures two years ago. https://caneadventures.blog/2018/10/23/seeing-ai-one-app-multiple-uses/ The app is free and is a virtual Swiss Army Knife of tools useful to blind people.
Day 17: Audiobooks. Thanks to audiobooks I can read most anything I want to nowadays. While they may be a convenience for most folks, they're critical to my ability to access information.
Day 18: Traveling can be done in an accessible manner if places you go put some thought into making it more accessible. I talked about a few of these touches when I wrote about going to London two years ago. https://caneadventures.blog/2018/11/12/a-blind-american-in-london/
Day 19: Screen readers: This technology allows many blind people like myself to use computers without seeing what's on screen. Check out this presentation @stevemorris11 and I did for @TheStayingInn about them over the summer:
Day 20: Screen readers, part II: Screen readers also work on mobile devices like iPhones. Since they're gesture-based instead of keyboard, they're much simpler to learn. Read about accessibility features built into the iPhone here: https://caneadventures.blog/2018/09/25/iphones-accessibility-in-your-pocket/
