Justin Romack and Chris D'Orso discuss tips on how to make sure your social media presence is accessible to all users.

1. Can You Do It In The Dark?
Making Your Social Media More Accessible
Chris D’Orso
@cdorso
Associate Director of Admissions,
The College at Brockport
Justin Romack
@justinromack
Assistive Technology Coordinator,
Texas A&M University

2. The Internet!

3. The joy of social media is that it’s – at least
theoretically -- a level playing field.
Everyone has access to the same information, the
same memes, the same cat videos.
But it’s important that we *actually* give people
access to all the same stuff, in a way that
everyone can use.

4. But what is accessibility?
The ability for people with disabilities to use,
obtain, and interact with information and resources
with the same, or a relatively similar, ease of use.
Our aim should be “inclusivity,” not just
“accessibility.” It’s not about creating a separate
experience, but developing solutions for people of
all abilities to access the world in the same manner.

5. “At the end of the day, the web is used by
humans and created by humans. And every
single thing you put in between those two is
noise. Everything on the web page, everything
you build, everything you think is a great tool,
and is interactive… is all just getting in the
way of two humans communicating.”
-Michael Fienen (@fienen),
Higher Ed Social podcast

6. So why be inclusive?
• Because we legally have to – but this
presentation is going to stay out of the
legal side of things.
• Because we’re not total a-holes

7. Meet Justin.

8. Who is impacted by social media accessibility?
“VoiceOver has totally
changed how I use social
media and the web!” -
Lindsay
“Everyone deserves
the chance to enjoy
and be inspired by
content.” - Cruz
“If it looks
complicated, I’ll
probably just skip it.”
– Ben

9. What are the common accessibility challenges when it
comes to social media content?
• Images without alt text
• Videos without video description
• Media without captions or transcripts
• Visual content with poor contrast
• Dense, overly verbose textual content with technical
jargon. (This ain’t the propellerhead track, folks.)

10. DEMO TIME!
NVDA using Twitter
NVDA using Facebook
VoiceOver for iOS on Facebook
VoiceOver for iOS on Instagram
TalkBack for Android
JAWS for Windows

11. Now – how many of you honestly think
you’re *not* doing a good enough job
making your social media inclusive for
people with disabilities?

12. Good thing we’re here to help!
Here are ten tweetable tips that you can take
home and work on.

13. 1. Learn how to make awesome alt
text.
Twitter: Native support on both
desktop and mobile.
Tweetdeck: Supported
Sprout: Supported
Buffer: Supported
Hootsuite: Supported
Facebook: Native support on desktop,
but NOT mobile
Instagram: Finally available!

14. 2. Get your captions and transcripts correct.
Facebook/Twitter: Allows the option to upload an SRT file with your
video, which provides closed captioning.
Instagram: Captions need to be “burned on” to the visuals, so you’d
need to prepare your video with captions and then upload it.

15. 2. Get your captions and transcripts correct.
Facebook/Twitter: Allows the option to upload an SRT file with your
video, which provides closed captioning.
Instagram: Captions need to be “burned on” to the visuals, so you’d
need to prepare your video with captions and then upload it.

16. 3. Add audio description for videos and broadcasts.
Social media do *not* currently support the ability to
toggle on/off audio descriptions:
• AD must be “burned into” the audio of your video.
• Upload an audio-described version to YouTube, then
post a link in the post or the comments to that video.
• Describe key scenery, visuals, and actions that are
appearing on screen.

17. 4. Contrast is important too!

18. 5. Avoid dense, overly verbose content.
“Write tight.” Avoid jargon and technical talk where
possible.
Make it clear,
Make it concise,
Make it stick.

19. 6. Champion accessibility throughout the content creation process.
It’s much easier to start early than to remediate work you’ve already
done.
7. Familiarize yourself with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
8. Many platforms have dedicated accessibility teams. Follow and
engage them in continuing accessibility work.
9. Involve people with disabilities. Get students and staff engaged in
the creation of your content.
10. Even if the platform makes it difficult, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t
matter. (Yeah, we’re talking to you, Snapchat.)

20. Bonus tips! Get those tweeting fingers ready.
11.Acronyms can be a pain. Write ‘em out, especially in the name of your
page.
12.Emoji are super cute! Want to make the O’s in your college name on
Twitter into pumpkins for Halloween? DON’T. Screen readers hate them.
Find another way to indicate that you’re the spookiest college on Twitter.
13.Funny hashtag? Use camel case so you don’t confuse anyone, *especially*
people using screen readers. #SusanAlbumParty vs #susanalbumparty
14.Inclusivity BONUS! If you can’t describe it without coming across like a
jerk, then it’s probably not appropriate anyway!

21. People notice what we do. It’s important that we do it
right.
“At the end of the day, the web is used by humans and
created by humans. And every single thing you put in
between those two is noise. Everything on the web page,
everything you build, everything you think is a great tool,
and is interactive… is all just getting in the way of two
humans communicating.”
-Michael Fienen (@fienen),
Higher Ed Social podcast

22. Thank you!
Chris D’Orso
@cdorso
Associate Director of Admissions,
The College at Brockport
Justin Romack
@justinromack
Assistive Technology Coordinator,
Texas A&M University