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Accessibility - Blog Posts
reasons not to put image descriptions under readmores
it puts a burden on disabled people to click through to people’s individual blogs in order to have access, instead of browsing their dash like sighted people do
hyperlinks and screen readers don’t always get along, so readmores can actually be more difficult for people using screen readers to access
if you ever change your url or delete your blog, that image is rendered inaccessible
it’s annoying
don’t do it
[icon ID: a black rabbit surrounded by cherry petals, taken from the Thai volume 6 cover of Mo Dao Zu Shi. /end ID]
[header ID: a landscape illustration from the French edition of Mo Dao Zu Shi. /end ID]
this is a danmei image description blog run by @princess-of-purple-prose and @bytedykes! we'll be posting for a variety of novels, but only ones we've actually read
if we add an ID to your post please copy it into the original post
if you want an image described feel free to send it in and we'll give it a shot!
posts are tagged with the full name of the fandom, as well as op's url, the characters, and the type of description
novels include Scum Villain, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Devil Venerable, Qian Qiu, and others
hi i love your account!! ♥️🤟
do you know of any ways to make group voice calls more accessible? i so badly want to participate in Discord vcs with my friends more often, but i get hearing fatigue almost instantly and struggle to keep track of multiple voices at once, especially when there’s a movie/game going on in the background. (i have mild to moderate hearing loss + auditory processing issues.)
thanks in advance!
Hi!
I don't use Discord or group voice calls so I don't have much advice unfortunately. You could talk to the group or start with one friend to figure out how to make things less chaotic. Maybe ask to have games muted? Truckers talking to each other on the radio will start with their handle to identify themselves. Maybe emulating that will make it easier to know who's talking in a way that's fun.
If anyone has experience with this please share!
Here's a funny little story about disability accommodation.
So I'm a bit deaf. Like...I have a prescription for a hearing aide but don't own one kind of a bit deaf. And I used to work at this noisy ass addiction treatment clinic. So even in my office I relied a lot on lipreading.
So one day I'm working with this client, and she's getting more and more upset and shut down, no matter how I try to steer us onto a calm, relaxed subject of conversation. And I can't figure out why the conversation has gone so far south.
And then I realize I am sitting at a buckwild angle in my chair, leaning waaaay over to the side. I'm almost falling off this chair. I look like a total goober.
And then I realize I'm doing that because I'm trying to lipread this client, who keeps turning further and further down and away from me. I probably would have noticed sooner but lipreading is actually kind of hard and I was focusing on noticing her upset rather than my body language.
And then it clicks.
She thinks I'm leaning like this because I am being a passive-aggressive asshole who is trying to force/shame her into making eye contact with me. I'd known this client enough to know she hates eye contact- possibly autism, possibly anxiety. Always possible it's both or something else.
I sit up straight and say. "Oh! Hey, I don't give a shit about eye contact, I'm trying to read your lips so I can understand what you're saying to me."
Instant vibe change. She relaxes, and sits upright comfortably in her chair, looking about a foot to the left of my head, so I can see her face clearly but she doesn't have to either fake or evade unwanted eye contact.
From then on things go a lot smoother, and we can get some good work done.
One side benefit from normalizing accommodations and reducing barriers to them is that it allows for low-stress conversations about what everybody needs in order to fully participate in an interaction. If I hadn't named the need I was trying to meet, she wouldn't have realized she could have her need met as well.
Just found out one of my posts lost all its alt text. It's only a year old. Please include both alt text and in-body image description for your images. Alt text is still not reliable on tumblr.
(I personally don't repeat my alt text in the body, usually I have an expanded description. Some people copy their description from alt text into the body text. If you do this, consider adding the line "copied from alt text," if it's the same so those who have already gotten that alt text can choose to skip the repeated info)
Freedom, חופש, Vrijheid
While libraries should be for everyone, not everyone will be able to use them the same way. Some will use them for tutoring, others for book clubs, some for research and other for light novels readings among other uses. Here are BLANK libraries that are working with those different needs (1)
Multiple studies recently released indicated a difference in male and female brains; (2) while not specifically divided by gender, the Tromsø Library has set different temperatures on different floors allowing those who operate best or have different comfort levels for reading or needed for their focus to all use the library together at the same time. Separately, the Biblo Tøyen, is selective in it’s audience. Only open for residents ages 10-15.
While not limiting patron wise, the Levinksi Garden Library operates with a specific function and purpose, as a haven. Open 24/7 this library has no closed off structure (no walls or doors) and operates as an encouraging, open space to receive refugees and migrants in Israel. (3)
Throughout the world, many countries also have libraries specifically for prisoners as they are held within prisons. Libraries in prisons however are not universal but some countries that also provide more equality and freedom to prisoners while serving their time have libraries and librarians focused on goals for the inmates after they are released and have seen less recidivism back into the criminal justice system (as defendants).
(1) https://www.visitnorway.com/things-to-do/art-culture/literature/6-libraries-you-need-to-visit/
(2) https://time.com/5592353/office-temperature-study/
(3) https://litreactor.com/columns/the-10-most-unusual-libraries-in-the-world
Just wanted to put a plug in for one of my new fav websites, Can I Play That?, which focuses on accessbility reviews of video games by disabled gamers. As someone with a dexterity/mobility disability in my hands (carpal tunnel) I NEED games that allow easy and convenient ways to push buttons to do stuff and let me rebind keys at will. I’m now checking Can I Play That? before buying games since their reviews are ++. They include accessibility reviews for deaf/hard of hearing and cognitive disabiliies too.
By the way, @staff is changing the video player and photo viewer on the mobile app to the one from Tumblr TV. As a result, they have made the abhorrent decision to remove an important accessibility feature in order to TikTok-ifying Tumblr. You can no longer zoom in on photos. Or so I thought. Because the visually impaired are now second-class users to the Tumblr Staff, they just decided to make it harder to zoom in on photos.
So, for all of you who, like me, find the pinch-to-zoom feature on Tumblr invaluable to read and view photos, you now have to:
Tap the Photo > Tap the “more” button in the description > tap the photo again
This will open the old photo viewer (for now, anyway) which was formerly one tap away. It will grant you all the former features of the old photo viewer, including the ability to zoom in.
EDIT: if you’re seeing this on your For You Dash or some other non-reblogged method you will see this edit. Before reblogging and commenting on this, there is addition information in the replies. I have replies disabled, so I am the only person who can add them. I’ve added addition info, as well as an update. Please read them. TLDR: many others, and myself, are now seeing it’s fixed. Many others are not. It may be a roll-out fix from the back-end. Be patient and wait to see if it’ll make its way to you.
Listen, I know we're all exhausted, but we gotta get better about adding image descriptions to disability related stuff. Everyone should be IDing everything anyways, but there's a particularly cruel irony in disability related stuff not being accessible to folks with low/no vision.
I am speechless at this blantantly ableist article from Bruce Pardy of the National Post.
Here’s a personal story. I have various learning disabilities one of them is called slow motor skills. This results in very poor writing speed. If I did not get extra time as accommodation or access to a computer to type my exams, I’d fail all my classes because I would not be able to finish my exams, and unlike Pardy’s claim, getting extra time doesn’t make me an A student. I’m not an A student and never have been, despite trying very hard. My accommodations don’t give me an edge, if anything they level the playing field. My disabilities have more of a negative effect on my learning than any accommodations I receive provide positives, but these accommodations allow me to at least pass my tests and continue my studies.
What’s pardy’s conclusion? People with disabilities shouldn’t be allowed in post secondary education? Because that’s what’s going to happen when you take away disability supports.
I am furious right now.
Because she was lonely.
So, today, a woman came into our shop. It was a woman I’ve only heard my parents refer to as ‘the Deaf Lady’. My mum had told her about me, explained that I was doing Sign Language, and come to find me on a day she knew I was working.
But today, she didn’t need her lawnmower repaired. In fact, she hadn’t touched it since it had been, and as far as she knew everything was fine.
She’d come in to sign to me.
She waved hello, and instantly explained that my mum had told her I would be in today. I asked her how she was, and the smile that she had on her face was the biggest I’ve ever seen.
And we spent about an hour in my family’s little shop, talking about everything. She told me about her life, about how she’d lived in the same house for 60 years.
She’d been born deaf, and been a Brownie, but never a Guide, because of the War… she’s now 86.
She had some amazing stories to tell, and twice she cried. One of those times was remembering her youth, and the other was when she was explaining to me that her husband had died around 20 years ago, and how he’d been the last person she’d known that could communicate with her.
She’s been alone for 20 years, living in a silent world, unable to communicate with anyone for the most part. The most interaction she has is when she writes things down for people, but she’s struggled to make any recent friends, and her family is long gone.
Now someone explain to me what’s wrong with every school teaching a certain amount of Sign Language, and for colleges to offer it more freely and frequently. People should be encouraged to learn BSL, because otherwise we’re cutting ourselves off from talking to around 8 million people or so (in the UK alone).
That’s millions of people who are no less important than you are, who have their own stories to tell, and the same need for communication as anyone else on this tiny little planet.
J. cried today because it was the first time for a long time that anyone has asked her for her name, or listened to her stories.
She’s also coming back into work tomorrow, to sign with me, and help me practice. But also - because we’re only human - for the company.
I wish there was a law against strobe bike lights. Last night i literally had a seizure because my boyfriends roommate got home when I was outside, and suddenly the yard was strobing.
Like okaay, TV rules were changed cuz of that one episode of pokemon that gave kids seizures right? So how come its chill that people can ride around through town with strobe lights attached to their bikes? What if a kid is in a car behind you and has a seizure? What if someone is walking down the street and suddenly your bile is the reason they are in the back of an ambulance?
As someone with photosensitive epilepsy, I've been taught my whole life to avoid the flashing triggers. When things are flashy online youre told to just avoid the internet, when stores have bad lights dont shop there, no clubbing or parties because there will be strobes. It feels so unfair that even when we go out of our way to avoid seizure triggers, people still will find a way to make your world smaller and smaller.
Even on a not epilepsy note, they are literally more unsafe for bikers because the strobing light makes it harder for night drivers to tell how fast and where exactly you are than a non blinking light......
i want you all to know that there is an artist (carmen papalia) who, after he started using a white cane, assembled a 12 foot long white cane and began using it in downtown vancouver. the length of the cane made it functionally useless as a device and the only purpose it served was making him an obstacle for sighted people. dare i say… 2019 goals
so here’s a quick lesson about having patience with kids.
I have a 6th grade student who isn’t really interested in doing her homework (big surprise). from my experience, kids who aren’t trying to do their homework usually fall into two general categories – “this is too easy and therefore boring” and “this is too hard and therefore i’m not even going to attempt”. it became clear by October that she fell into the latter group, but most of the staff chalked it up to “she doesn’t understand it”. I didn’t really believe it because she was a very smart, emotionally aware girl and it didn’t seem like she didn’t always want to try, just that she would rather do other things than struggle with her work.
yesterday, she got sent to my office, just so that she would have a space away from her friends to focus on her work, and she asked me to help her with two questions. I looked at them and they were fairly straightforward, simple questions about the results of using various amounts of force on an object. I did what I always do – I read the question out loud first, and then tried to help her use recall to figure it out. she did in a snap. I did the same with the second question, and before I even finished it, she went “OH!” and started writing her answer.
that’s when it hit me – she doesn’t have trouble with the material, she just has trouble reading and processing what she’s reading at the same time. big difference! I asked her and she confirmed that it was easier to hear a question and understand it than to read it and understand it. so I got her phone out, pulled up her voice recorder, and told her to try reading the question aloud and then playing it back to herself so she could process it and she looked like i had handed her the holy grail.
the moral of the story is that sometimes you have to set aside what you think is a problem with a kid and just watch for what’s easier for them. will she be able to do that during a test? maybe not, BUT now that she knows that the issue is processing reading and that she’s an auditory learner, she’s in a better position to ask for resources to help her work better in school.
so i’m off to the school counselor to let her know so she can possible get more tools for auditory learners.
Things they don't tell you about being a first time wheelchair user in highschool
Literally everyone will ask if you broke your leg(s). Everyone. Even people you don’t know. Theyll ask a lot and think you’re extremely fragile.
bruises show up within the first day of rolling around, and they can really suck
people will try to grab your chair if they think you’re struggling and it can be hard not to snap at them for it
static electricity is a huge issue. You will probably either continuously shock your leg when you’re rolling around or do what I did today and zap someone so hard as you pass that both of you nearly keel over
people will call you out as a faker if you do anything even remotely fun ever on your wheelchair. Wheelies? Obviously your legs are fine lol not like you have to go down fucking curbs /s
puddles are the worst and if there’s a curb with a puddle all around and you have some ability to walk its a better idea to just stand up and navigate the chair than to fall backwards into said puddle
weird looks from people are inevitable, especially from people who don’t like you
bus drivers will often push your chair and give you advise you don’t want to hear, even if you tell them nicely you can push yourself. Its really hard not to get mad at them for it
no wheelies in school. Though if you do it in the elevator when no one else is with you you can’t really get caught.
speaking of wheelies, always be ready to throw at least one arm behind you in case you fall. They say tuck your chin in but its easier and more reliable to throw your hands back and keep your neck up so you don’t hit the floor. Sore arms are way easier to put up with than head injuries
don’t even bother to try and roll back up curbs. You will either be there for an hour or fall backwards. I managed to do both.
90% of classrooms that aren’t special ed are not very wheelchair accessible.
people will automatically assume you’re faking something if you’re not considered dumb enough in their standards to fit in with disabled students (aka high class ableism at its finest)
people are going to give you weird looks if you don’t suddenly start sitting with the other disabled kids
standard backpacks usually dangle way too much to keep on you easily, so try to pack light
built in storage on wheelchairs cannot sufficiently carry books
don’t try to hold an umbrella. Period. Especially not with your teeth. It doesn’t work.
don’t try to give the bus driver your ticket while you’re stuck on the ramp. And speaking of, its easy to start falling down the bus ramp so be careful, and when in doubt throw on the breaks
and finally if you’re like me pray to god you don’t go nonverbal when someone is trying to push you and you don’t want them to because it is hard to get them to stop if you can’t speak
able-bodied people can and should 1000% reblog this, some of these things I’ve seen on tips about using a wheelchair but a lot of these weren’t things I’ve seen
Dark mode for photosensitivity
Hi friends! I’ve recently been diagnosed with ADHD + autism (v v fun combo) and am very sensitive to bright lights and blue light. I’ve been on a mission to find a way to force dark mode for everything on my work computer to keep myself from getting overstimulated in the office. Enter in this magical thing called ✨browser flags✨
I’ve linked the article I followed below so hopefully this will help someone who struggles with the same things I do. Remember: do this at your own risk and discretion. It is a beta feature and will look a little weird on some websites.
https://www.howtogeek.com/446198/how-to-force-dark-mode-on-every-website-in-google-chrome/#:~:text=Summary,force%20sites%20into%20dark%20mode.
descriptive transcript:
Haben, a Black woman in her thirties with long dark hair, speaks to the camera, a vibrant blue wall behind her.
Haben: If you're a creator, add transcripts to your videos. I can't see videos, I can't hear videos, but I can read transcripts.
Pins on a Braillenote Touch pop up and down in their Braille cells. Each cell has eight pins that are either positioned up or down depending on the specific Braille letter.
Haben: Braille displays connect to phones and laptops, allowing Braille readers to access the internet this way. Descriptive transcripts should have both the visuals of what's happening on screen and speech and key sounds for the video. Really good descriptive transcripts captivate readers just like the best novels.
The Braille display disappears and the video shows Haben in the same room.
Haben: Once we have widespread accessibility, it'll be easier for deafblind people to share our stories and also participate in conversations. I love learning from lives different from mine and in order for me to do that, I need transcripts. I look forward to reading all your transcripts!
end transcript.
sharing for people who aren't aware this is a thing & can put it into practice, video transcript copied from haben's instagram (please let me know if the format needs to be adjusted in some way 👍🏻)
How do you write image IDs?
a lot of people have put this in far better words than i could so i'll direct you to some helpful posts [here, here] but while you're here, take my two little tidbits anyway!
if i'm IDing a funny post, i try to structure the ID like the punchline of the image. if i'm IDing a sad art piece, i try and write it with the same sadness the art conveys. generally i try to translate what the image made me feel into written words.
literally just start. start today. even if your first attempt is shit, you are guaranteed to help someone who might not have been able to understand otherwise. its practice more than anything honestly. just start!
i'd also like it to be known that while i've got some visual stuff going on, i am not legally blind. i don't use a screenreader. i'm not going to be your best source of information and most all of your questions have likely been asked and answered by people leaps and bounds more qualified than i am. feel free to ask questions but also know for the best info you should probably be going to someone else! /lh
Mobility assistance
i can get to my desk IF someone moves a chair out of the way is not accessibility
i can get in the building IF i’m having a really good day and can open the door myself is not accessibility
i can get in the building IF i go through loopholes to be allowed to use the accessible entrance is not accessibility
i can get to one desk BUT i don’t have a choice in where i sit and everyone else does is not accessibility
there is an accessible entrance BUT it is farther away and more inconveniently placed than any inaccessible entrance is not accessibility
accessibility should not have conditions. all of these are still good, compared to absolutely no access. but disabled people should not have to settle for “just barely good enough”
"disability only exists because the world isnt accessible" idk how to tell you this but chronic pain still hurts