How can you make your Facebook posts reach millions more people? These tips will help make sure that people with disabilities can still access your photos, videos and words. 

1. Add captions or alt text to photos

So that people who or blind or who have vision loss can understand your photos, you could either add more detail about a picture into the Facebook post which includes your photo - that way the post makes more sense everyone. Or you can edit the automatic alt text which Facebook automatically generates on images. This text is often quite simplistic - ie, it might just say something like ‘1 person’ or 1 person, glasses, smiling’. Note you can only do this using a computer as it doesn’t work on a phone.

To change this automatic text, choose one of your uploaded photos. Click the ‘edit’ button in the top right-hand corner, then select ‘change alt text’. Keep the text short and to the point. If the image is purely decorative, you can leave the box blank. But if the image contains words, it’s good practice to convey those words in the alt text, or better still, in the main post.  
 

2. Automatic video captions

Facebook adds automatic captions to videos, as does Youtube. For users of your page who are deaf or who have hearing loss, as well as people who might just prefer to have the sound off because they’re at work or in a public place, this feature is useful. People who are blind can listen to the captions. Find out more about how to edit captions here. If a video has few words in it, it’s good practice to provide a written or audio description of what's happening/explain the message or meaning. 
 

3. Facebook live streaming

Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. As a baseline of accessibility, you might want to think about how your video will be received by someone with vision or hearing loss. Can the speaker in the video be more descriptive to help a blind person? Can you provide a sign language interpreter in the live stream, for example? You could also upload the video with captions as soon as possible after the event. 
 

4. Keep words simple and clear

The average reading age in the UK is nine years old, so keep sentences and keep posts simple. Think about the fact that someone with memory loss might also read your post, or someone with learning needs or autism might also read it. Your words will be more widely understood if you’re as clear and direct as possible. You can check the reading age of your text here. Keep acronyms to a minimum, write words in full and avoid abbreviations. 
 

5. Check colour contrast on images, animated GIFs and infographics

Be aware that about 2.7 million people in the UK alone are colour blind. Therefore any infographics and images, particularly those with text included in them, should be well colour contrasted to be more clear - this is a requirement under Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. There are free colour contrast checkers online, such as this one.

For the latest on creating accessible Facebook posts and how to make the most of Facebook if you have a disability, click here.

About 14 million people in the UK have a disability, and many more around the world. Perhaps your tweets aren't getting the biggest audience that they could? Making your stream accessible could help.

1. Use accessible photo captions and alt text when tweeting

In 2016, Twitter brought in an option to give descriptions for images on Twitter. The descriptions are read out by screen readers to let blind people or those with low vision hear what’s in the picture.

To enable this (it sounds complicated but is very quick to activate):

1. Go to Twitter’s app/website
2. Go to your image in the top right-hand corner of your screen
3. Select ‘settings and privacy’
4. Choose ‘accessibility’ from the list on the left.
5. Click the ‘compose image descriptions’ box to activate this option.

Then, when you compose a tweet with an image, an ‘add description’ button will appear and you can input ‘alt’ (alternative) descriptions of up to 420 characters.

This is particularly important if there are words in the picture but not always necessary if the image is abstract or purely decorative.

Note: If you're adding an infographic with complex information, it’s a good idea to link to a data table with the same information, which is likely to be more easily accessible.

For full info on adding Twitter image descriptions using your voice or with screenreader assistance, see Twitter’s help page here.

Most Tweet scheduling platforms don't have an Alt text option, but Buffer and Twitterific do offer this option. 

2. Add full photo description within the main Tweet for text-heavy images

For infographics or images with big chunks of written information contained in the picture, ie a menu - it’s simpler and neater to add a text alternative in the main text of the tweet.

3. Make your hashtags accessible

Use what’s known as ‘camel case’ for the hashtags in your tweets - #ABitLikeThis. When you do, it means screenreaders used by people who are blind or visually impaired will hear the words individually rather than as a long incoherent word, as is likely to be the case if no letters are capitalised.

4. Use plain English

Avoid acronyms and make sure the meaning of the tweet is very plainly clear. This is likely to help people on the autistic spectrum, as well as someone with a learning disability or dementia. In addition, the average reading age in the UK is nine years old. Try these tools to check the readability of your tweets - Flesch–Kincaid readability metrics or Readability-Score.com.

5. Colour contrast

If your tweet contains an infographic, make sure the colours are well contrasted, so they are easy to decipher for people who are colour-blind or have a visual impairment. There are various free sites which will check your page for colour contrast. Click here.

Need more information?

• Six quick checks for website accessibility
• For more making your website, apps, social media and more, accessible - click here

Two of the things that blind people like myself usually love are words and audio content of all kinds. I’ve been looking at three incredible and fully accessible iOS apps that help with speedy typing, finding and ‘pinning’ interesting items for later and efficient audio editing.

FlickType

FlickType is a bit like a new incarnation of Fleksy and has some of the FlickType team behind it. It works as a miraculous keyboard app that enables you to rapidly tap on the screen in a vague approximation of a word, possibly getting every single letter wrong but still giving you the right word as a result. FlickType matches the shape of the word you've tapped out with the shapes of actual words, and offers you the closest match by default, along with a list of other potential matches.

After an extensive period of beta testing, FlickType is now available as a free app for iOS. Here is FlickType in action as demonstrated by me, a completely blind person (which I’m sure will be all too apparent as I miss the majority/all of the letters I’m aiming for).

Currently only a standalone app, FlickType will soon also be available as a system keyboard. My concern about this is that, as a blind person tapping out words, if I accidentally tap too high and into the app above the top of the keyboard, what will happen? Well, the developers assure me that you’ll be able to do this and still be considered as typing on the keyboard. I’ve absolutely no idea how they’ll pull off this fantastic feat but I look forward to 'seeing' it in action. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is a free service beloved by over 200 million users worldwide. It helps you easily browse and ‘pin’ items such as posts, images and videos to save for later. Just as one might have done on an old fashioned cork board in real life.

Until a recent refresh, this app had a wide range of issues for people with low or no vision – from small fonts to poor colour contrast and unlabelled buttons (unlabelled buttons can't be read by screenreaders) that prevented a blind user from even being able to sign-up for the service in the first place – but now you’ll see (or hear) a huge difference. Check it out. For more details about changes and the team’s motivations, there's a great piece on the Fast Company website here. Or perhaps pin it for later?

Ferrite

Perhaps more than any other group, blind people love audio – and especially the spoken word. Podcasts and audio books are favourite methods of obtaining news and pursuing interests.

Many blind users are also audio creators. I’m personally involved in two podcasts: the daily Alexa skills podcast Dot to Dot and the all-things Apple podcast with a visual-impairment focus, called Maccessibility.

Being able to easily edit on the go is an incredible productivity boost - particularly if your podcast is daily like Dot To Dot. Ferrite is an amazing iOS app that takes the complex arena of audio editing and simplifies it into a really clean touch-first experience that is totally inclusive for everyone.

Ferrite is free with an in-app purchase available for some additional features. I.e advanced audio-editing (such as the magic auto-levelling for those times when voices are at a range of volumes or, in the case of recording demos of Alexa’s skills, when certain games or quizzes have sound-effects that would otherwise blast the ears of the listener), this app is the all-in-one studio on the go.

It’s an achievement to make a primarily text-based app accessible, but an audio-editing app with its playhead, waveforms and splicing points all accessible deserves a huge round of applause. If only I could edit such an applause into this article at this point!

Robin Christopherson is the head of digital inclusion for AbilityNet. Find more of his accessibility blogs here. 

• Don't miss the dealine for the AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards - 6pm 8th May!
• Naidex 2018 Roundup: From Autism apps to saddle chairs and vibrating shoes

If you need help making technology work for you, call our helpline on 0800 269 545. And, to make your app accessible, click here.

Yesterday we went and had a look at some of the new products on show at Naidex. Held annually at the NEC in Birmingham it describes itself as a marketplace for “innovations for the future of independent living”.

There were over 200 stands and we can’t confess to have visited them all, but here are some of the things that we liked. Salli Systems from Finland were there showcasing their saddle chairs and once you get over the fact that you do feel like you are getting on a horse the seats are quite comfortable!

Iansyst, and Smartbox Assistive Technology were there along with SignLive. They are well known assistive technology providers, and it was good to go and see what technology they had on their stands. More so this year, than in other years there did seem to be a real effort to show people what technology could do to help people become more independent in their own home.

Whether it was watches which doubled up as GPS locators so that people with dementia could be located and some of them even featured a useful “panic button” so they could call a nominated person to receive help.

Companies like Avail were also there and they were showcasing their app which helps people with autism and cognitive impairments become more independent by helping them to complete everyday tasks. On Wednesday 25 April our very own Head of Digital Inclusion Robin Christopherson was speaking about the importance of inclusive design in a mobile-first world.

Other companies displayed technology which could be used to help monitor elderly or vulnerable people in their own home. One of my favourite pieces of technology was shoes that could help visually impaired and blind people navigate around their area. If you got to close to an object the shoes would start to vibrate to warn you of danger. The shoes are called WALKASSIST and are made by an Austrian company, TEC innovation.

There were lots of leisure time organisations at the show too, from adventure holidays in the Lake District to holidays in Tuscany too. If you were interested in sports you could go and check out the action in the sports arena and if you wanted to find out how to get to places in specially adapted vehicles there were numerous dealers at the event.

Normally I don’t buy any products at these shows, but I always come back with a load of leaflets. However I did find a mug holder called a Muggi for carrying hot drinks. As I have difficulties carrying drinks at the best of times it seemed like a great idea. It’s purple and it’s plastic and it is a really simple idea. Some times the simplest of ideas can be the most useful!

Dafydd Henke-Reed, accessibility and usability consultant for AbilityNet, takes us through his recent webinar for organisations and individuals looking to make Autism-friendly websites, digital services and technology. 

Dafydd Henke-Reed writes:

It's my job to make sure websites are as accessible, easy-to-use and enjoyable as possible to use for people with disabilities, including people on the Autism spectrum.

Currently the most-used figure for the number of people on the autistism spectrum is one in 100, but the rate of diagnosis is rising and could be as high as 1 in 59 people. See more about the increase in diagnosis here. This means at least 700,000 people in the UK are on the Autistism spectrum. The NHS describes Autism spectrum disorder an umbrella term for a range of conditions… that affects social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour". The National Autistic Society (NAS) states that Autism is a a "lifelong development disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others". 

See or listen to the webinar below:

:

Traits common among people with autism, that may impact use of technology and the web, include:

• Social anxiety
• Osessive behaviours/ strong special interests
• Ritualistic behaviour, i.e, repetitive movements of hands in a certain way
• Sensory sensitivity 

Baseline checks for ensuring your website or app is Autism-friendly:

1 Avoid autoplaying videos

As people who are on the autism spectrum can be sensitive to sensory overload, it's not ideal to have a video automatically play unexpectedly with potentially loud output. Turning off autoplay also makes the web experience better for people with other disabilities, so is a good rule to follow. 

2 Ensure phones are not activated by shaking movements 

A friend of mine had what's known as a 'stimming' behaviour. Examples of stimming include repeating physical movements or sounds. My friend shakes her hands back and forth which seemed to automatically light up the flashlight on her phone so she became a human beacon. This is something to be mindful of.

3 Make sure any scrolling or moving info can be controlled

When looking to make sites autism-friendly for our customers such as high street banks and corporates, we ensure that there is always the option to stop and pause any moving images on a page. Otherwise moving features could lead to sensory overload.

4 A predictable website is more Autism-friendly

If you press the space bar or click somewhere and something unexpected happens on a website, that is not autism-friendly and is bad practice. A website should be predictable, organised, structured and logical for everyone. If a chatbot pops up, that might be unexpected and a user should be told what that is and also offered and alternative option such as an email address to converse with someone. We call this ‘consistent navigation’ and it is a legal standard, i.e an AA requirement under the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - which we work from (see more on these guidelines below).

5 Consider softer pastel colour palettes

Pastel colours can be less overwhelming. Colour contrast is something different and an important accessibility requirement for people with certain vision impairments or colour-blindness so the two needs should be considered together. If you have some important information that needs to be very clear on your site, you could employ colour contrast principles and use some brighter colours for certain sections, but use strong colours sparingly and make the backgrounds and general pages more neutral / pastel in their tones.

Web Accessibility Guidelines

AbilityNet use the widely-employed World Wide Web Consortium's (W3) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to test sites. These guidelines are currently being updated and you can find more information in our WCAG 2.1 Webinar. Single A requirements under the WCAG are the basics which all websites should have, double AA is the next step up and triple A (AAA) is hard to achieve and very few websites meet it. 

Triple A (AAA) requirements includes the use of Plain English, which is an important consideration for any website and particularly for someone who has autism This means use of metaphors, sarcasm, poetic language and any language that isn't literal could be difficult for people on the autism spectrum and other sections of the population to understand. The average reading age in the UK is nine, so keep that in mind (check out our very useful piece on writing for nine year olds). 

Social interaction with technology

Autism is not on the agenda of developers and designers very often. But, as the web becomes more and more social and interactive, rather than just words on a page as was previously the case, it poses various questions around ensuring the digital experience is as smooth and enjoyable as possible for people who have autism. People on the Autistic Disorder Spectrum may feel more comfortable not interacting with people and feel more comfortable interacting with machines, this can become confusing and potentially scary when, for example, online characters are increasingly made to look more human. 

Finally, the most important rule when checking your website is Autism-friendly...

Testing is essential. Always test your website with a wide variety of different people. One person who's Autistic will be very different from the next, so check with a range of people. Offer quiet testing rooms and ask about anything that feels uncomfortable or off-putting offering verbal and non-verbal feedback options and/ or using clear multiple choice options. 

• Check out the Autism and Accessibility webinar for more information
• How Artificial Intelligence is empowering people on the autism spectrum

AbilityNet is the new Accessibility Partner for the Digital Leaders network.

The UK charity has been a global leader in accessibility for 20 years and delivers consultancy and design services to a range of blue chip clients, including Lloyds Banking Group and many other members of the Digital Leaders network.

AbilityNet will deliver a range of events and resources to enable network members to put accessibility and inclusive design at the heart of their digital projects. This includes weekly blog posts, regular webinars, salons and other one-off events.

The Digital Leaders Network has over 50,000 members in the UK and many other countries. Its founder Robin Knowles has worked with AbilityNet over several years and sees this as an ideal way for network members to upgrade all their digital projects.

He said:  “Too many people see accessibility as a bolt on, but AbilityNet and their clients are showing that it is a cost-effective way of delivering better digital products and services for every customer.

“I’m delighted that we will be able to use their expertise to build awareness of inclusive design and demonstrate some of the practical lessons to be learned.”

AbilityNet CEO Nigel Lewis sees the decision to work with Digital Leaders as part of its mission to build a more accessible digital world.

He said: “The members of the Digital Leaders network deliver services and products to millions of people so this is a huge opportunity to change the world for the better. As a charity we use our expertise and resources to put accessibility and inclusive design at the heart of every project.

“Our consultants work with clients from wireframe and initial designs to final testing and customer research. We provide training to digital teams, we deliver events such as TechShare pro to share practical knowledge and we were founding members of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals alongside companies such as Adobe, Microsoft and Lloyds Banking Group.”

A well-known figure at many digital events, AbilityNet’s Head of Digital Inclusion Robin Christopherson was awarded an MBE for his contribution to digital inclusion. He’s excited by the prospect of connecting with the members of the Digital Leaders network.

He said: “I’ve worked in this field for over 20 years and have seen technology become a key part of everyday life. The big shift we’re seeing now is the move to inclusive design – making every digital project work for every possible user.

“That means we’re working with the whole digital team, including designers, researchers, UX specialists, marketing, developers and customer services. We still link directly with accessibility specialists across the world but we also see how this approach is bringing benefits across the business”.

In June 2018 the final draft of World Wide Web Consortium's WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) will be released. AbilityNet accessibility and usability consultant Alladin Elteira offers some important information about the guidelines ahead of their launch in our latest webinar. 

Alladin writes:

WCAG 2.1 will use the same conformance model as WCAG 2.0 with some additions intended to address accessibility gaps. One of the three main points it is intended to address is the accessibility needs related to mobile, since back in 2008 when WCAG 2.0 came out mobiles were not as advanced as today. Our three points below are all basic recommendations - Level A. The government's accessibility standard, which organisations should ideally look to meet under the Equality Act 2010, is the higher Level AA.

The three main success criteria recommended for mobile accessibility under WCAG 2.1

Pointer Gestures (Level A): Avoid two-finger pinch zoom, swiping and dragging.

The use of complicated and complex gestures is discouraged, this also includes path-based gestures. This is because not all users are capable of performing them, nor have the dexterity accuracy needed - Tinder, we're looking at you! An example of such gestures would be two-finger pinch zoom, and path-based gestures like swiping and dragging.

As an author your responsibility lies in providing an alternative to these complex gestures, to ensure that users are able to perform the action with single-point activation. Examples of single-point activation methods would be tapping, double tapping, or long press.

It’s worth noting that this success criterion will often not only benefit users with dexterity limitations, but all users and users with cognitive impairments in particular, as they might not be aware of these complex gestures.

Motion Actuation (Level A): Limit shaking and tilting requirements

This success criteria ensures that users are not forced to rely on motion alone to activate or trigger a functionality. Its intent is to help users with motor impairments who for instance might have limited movements and be unable to shake or tilt the device to activate the camera or activate sensors to pick up their movement, as is sometimes required. We can also look at examples of some people with autism who might move their hands a lot/ quite fast. This could activate a flashlight on the phone example, without intention. 

Alternative user interfaces should be provided, unless the motion is absolutely necessary for the functionality, for example counting steps on an activity tracker.

An example of such solutions would be providing ‘Next’ and ‘previous’ buttons to navigate between pages, instead of only counting on tilting the device, as some smartphones currently do.

Orientation (Level A)

Both portrait and landscape orientations should be supported. Locking the orientation to only one of them means a failure against this success criteria as some people might find it easier to view or hold the screen in one particular way, or for example, might have their device attached to the arm of a wheelchair and not be able to easily re-angle their screen. 

In addition, if a screen reader user is unaware that the orientation has changed, the user might perform incorrect navigation commands. Therefore, mobile application developers should try to support both orientations.

WCAG 2.1 also addresses accessibility issues related to low vision and cognitive impairments, with additional success criteria, all as usual falling under three levels of conformance A, AA, and AAA.

For more details on the remaining WCAG 2.1 Candidate Recommendation, see here.