Maryam Davar
Project Proposal
Words Count: 2,735
Introduction
Digital Accessibility allows those with disabilities to readily access those primary internet resources that so many of us take for granted..
And, within our digital world, the most ubiquitous element in most peoples’ lives is Social Media, the subject of this paper.
Social Media also happens to be the number one platform for digital accessibility problems as reported by disabled users.
(O’Brien 2021)
(Hex Productions, 2020)
Accessibility involves the platform, assistive technology, web development tools and the content of documents, videos, images et al.
Just as importantly though, it is the awareness of accessibility and the willingness to apply it by those responsible for company’s Social Media postings that will create the all important “level playing field” disabled users need.
This paper examines from a business standpoint how these platforms and the organisations which use them need to adapt their medium to the needs of an estimated 15% of the world’s population who classify as “disabled”, amongst which a sizeable minority are likely actual or potential customers.
Though large, well-financed organisations are embracing the need to modify their SM approach to include this huge, often disaffected, pool of “differently abled” clients, this report focuses on the relatively poor uptake of these “adjustments” amongst the less well resourced small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), for whom the effort of making their postings accessible may appear disproportionate to the commercial benefits.
The conclusions it reaches are intended to serve as a theoretical foundation for this semester’s more practical element; namely the design of a website intended to assist SMEs in more efficiently implementing accessibility into their Social Media postings.
It is hoped such a resource will help them to participate in accessibility with greater confidence and compete more effectively with larger organisations for disabled businesses.
In due course, it is my intention to establish a business myself with - among its longer term objectives - the development of a commercially viable website-based company based upon these concepts.
2. The Extent of the Social Media inAccessibility Problem: Who it Affects & What it looks like
2.1 A Huge Demographic, A Huge Opportunity for Business
An article published at the end of 2020 put the world’s population of blind and visually impaired people at an estimated 253 million whilst another 466 million suffer from some degree of disabling hearing loss. (Wagner, 2019)
Yet disability covers everything from cognitive behavioural and learning disorders to victims of strokes, heart attacks and a huge range of other illnesses and socially related conditions.
It also includes those suffering from the decline in mental and physical capacities associated with the onset of old age.
Taking 15-20% of the world’s population as disabled (Hex Productions, 2020), 610 Million are disabled SM users. That’s equivalent to the entire population of America, Russia, Germany, Holland and Belgium.
(Unoosa, 2021)
2.2 Playing in the Rough: Irritations, hindrances and the “denial of service”
A 2018 Facebook survey showed over 30% of its users suffered from at least one of the following:
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Hearing Impairment or deafness
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Visual Impairment or blindness
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Mobility problems
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Cognitive disorders
(GISuser.com, 2021)
From a business accessibility perspective, too often Social Media post designers forget that most disabled users also have bank accounts.
Without posts being accessible, companies are denying themselves a huge number of potential customers.
If a disabled user finds the process of accessing a post too daunting or frustrating there is a good chance they will fly elsewhere. Here is a brief guide to those issues.
Overly complex language
Elizabeth Swann: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal.
Captain Barbossa: There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we're naught but humble pirates. What is it that you want?
Elizabeth: I want you to leave and never come back.
Barbossa: I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request.
Elizabeth: [stares at him in shock]
Barbossa: Means "no."
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness (using long words!), as well as tortuous grammar and sentence structure, reduces the accessibility of posts. They fail to allow for people with learning difficulties, dyslexia and even those for whom English being a 2nd language is an effective disability too.
Non-descriptive or overly wordy use of links
Link text should clearly indicate the type of content they will get if the link is clicked on.
Some common examples of link descriptions to be avoided, according to Google’s Lighthouse Developer Tool, are:
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click here
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click this
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go
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here
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this
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start
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right here
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more
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learn more
For visually impaired people especially, accessing content via screen readers is difficult with poor links and little or no references in the accompanying text. Screen reader users often navigate websites by the links using the tab key. Furthermore, in this age of computer viruses and scams, we all want to know what we are letting ourselves in for.
Lack of video captioning or bad captioning
As with alt text, clear use of captions for visually or hearing impaired also helps those with learning disabilities and whose own language isn’t being spoken within the video.. Captions additionally help those with attention deficits more easily maintain concentration.
Poor use of colour
Low contrast ratios between text and background colours can severely affect visually impaired users’ ability to discern the words.
Often little or no account is taken of the problems colour-blind users might have either.
Additionally some people, for example, those suffering from autism, will find it distressing to process too many vivid colours on the same screen as well as have problems with certain colour spectrums.
Example of an autism-friendly image
Inappropriate use of animated GIFs
Animated GIFs that loop continuously may affect people who are sensitive to seizures caused by flashing lights and images.
To avoid posts designers should set these GIFs to stop after 5 seconds or else allow users to stop them.
Generally, any blinking and flashing should be avoided if possible. And other ways to convey the message sought.
Perhaps also use an epilepsy analysis tool.
Omission of alternative text for images, graphics, maps and charts
For the visually impaired or blind, graphics and images can remain out of reach without text accompaniment.
If they are not already described in the wider document itself there should always be alternative text (“alt text”) for a screen reader to read aloud. Alt text needs to be adequately descriptive but not overly wordy: “Construction workers sitting on an iron girder high up over 1920’s New York” might fit the bill here, for example.
Ambiguous meanings of emojis
For a deaf person unable to hear any audible descriptions, understanding the meaning of the above emojis would be problematic. For instance, is the man on the left here blowing a kiss or whistling?
3. Factors limiting SMEs engagement in Social Media accessibility
(PR Daily, 2021)
Social Media consistently falls behind other digital modalities when it comes to accessibility. This section seeks to understand why this is, especially amongst SMEs. Its findings will inform my approach to a practical means of improvement.
3.1 The legal background to accessibility issues
(A steady increase in US digital accessibility lawsuits )
Ultimately, what will induce the designers of Social Media posts to address the life-transforming issues of accessibility for disadvantaged people lies with the financial advantage they can gain over their competitors.
Specific Digital Accessibility legislation does not yet exist in the US or UK. However, this has not stopped prosecutions in America from taking place for non-compliance with ADA (American Disability Act) Title III regulations. Indeed this method of holding larger corporations to account is burgeoning there as the public’s increasing awareness of their rights under the Act has led to a significant upturn in litigation.
In 2020 in the US, the rate of lawsuits for digital accessibility complaints increased by 25% from 2019.
And whilst the vast majority of cases relate to the accessibility of websites, (3,235 cases out of 3,550 in 2020) there was a steep rise in the same year for video accessibility claims (150 cases) - poor or non-existent captioning being the chief offender. (UseableNet 2020)
With its relatively poor accessibility record and its marked preference for videos, the steep growth in the use of Social Media for sales and marketing across the globe would suggest that designers of posts need to take this seriously.
Nor have prosecutions been confined to large organisations but have now filtered down to SMEs with the vast majority being in eCommerce.
In recent years, start-ups and small businesses have borne the brunt of these lawsuits and web owners and entrepreneurs have become far more cautious in accessibility matters and the financial penalties involved, as indeed should Social Media post designers too.
(UseableNet 2020)
And, where America leads, the UK usually follows.
In the UK (except Northern Ireland) the Equality Act of 2010 performs a similar role to the US ADA, giving legal protections for people with disabilities in the online arena.
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Section 20 of the Equality Act requires service providers to take reasonable steps to provide an equal experience for people with disabilities both online and offline, whilst Section 29 prohibits discrimination by failing to provide adequate accommodations for use.
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Rights - and thus opportunities for litigation - are further bolstered by the U.K. Human Rights Commission and the British Standards Institute, whilst much of the digital, granular detail involved is referenced (here and in the US) to the Worldwide Web Consortium’s WCAG standards.
3.2 Other factors behind SMEs Social Media accessibility “reluctance”
Social Media post accessibility is “difficult”
For SMEs, accessibility solutions to specific Social Media posting are - as far as the author can confirm - non-existent. Website accessibility is relatively well-served with a small industry in solution packages emerging.
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Social Media guides to accessibility are also mushrooming - but mostly without either the tools or the directions to them that are needed - let alone a one-stop-shop experience.
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That is not to say that posting content cannot be downloaded from its design software platforms to other mediums and somehow arrive at an intermediary solution. It’s rather a question of how technically confident you are moving between them.
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If you work in a smaller company, the chances are that you have been “assigned” the role of the Social Media campaigner, having demonstrated perhaps no more than a general experience in it, rather than being a seasoned professional (costing more money).
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And even to the professionals, it can be daunting.
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There are hundreds of accessibility tools “out there”, but knowing where to start when faced with a deadline, a small budget - and a thousand other things to do besides - is an issue facing SMEs.
Appendix B shows many accessibility services for websites/webpages though none specifically for SM postings.
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In the end, by avoiding the issue, SMEs risk inaccessibility, prosecution or lost business by choosing to stay clear of a Social Media presence.
SMEs are generally less able to weather legal penalties than larger organisations. When they realise that compliance with the standards themselves is also no guarantee of practical accessibility, their worries will only increase. It’s possible to remediate a PDF document in many ways such that it complies with WCAG standards while remaining inaccessible to most disabled users - any one of whom (being savvy enough) might take them to law. Similar issues arise with other aspects of web content including Social Media posting.
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Whilst their websites are indispensable - and website accessibility relatively well catered for - the lack of anything specific to Social Media posts may discourage the use of the medium, especially as litigation begins to spread through the wider business community and the public’s consciousness.
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For startups/SMEs especially, remediation software costs can be prohibitive. It’s not enough for accessibility failures to be detected. They have to be remediated too. Usually, that involves packages like Acrobat DC Pro (£200 per year per person). And, if your posts regularly include PDF documents a company licence can set you back in the region of £8,000 to £ 12,000 annually for leading suppliers of remediation software such as CodeMantra and Equinox - and you would still need Acrobat in many instances where they cannot remediate.
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In all instances, there is the time/cost of learning the technology too.
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What “posters” really need is a button to press that makes their work “accessible”, with the ability to manually override elements if necessary (for example, alt text, captioning etc.). That’s some way off, but entirely “do-able”; something that frees up their time to concentrate on the truly creative side of their roles. For larger companies, whose marketing & sales include a heavy investment in Social Media that should be a “no-brainer”. For SMEs, the cost/benefit analysis is a more difficult wrangle.
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An issue for SMEs is whether brand reach and loyalty amongst its disabled customers is worth the time and the effort. That is certainly can be, is attested by the results of the annual “Click Away Pound” Surveys that still show eCommerce platform rejection levels due to frustration over accessibility issues by disabled users around 70%. Similar rates likely apply to Social Media postings.
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Threats of litigation may sway them too. In the end, it’s a risk/benefit analysis and rarely ever a genuine moral compulsion..
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4 What Tools & Guidance for accessibility are available for SME Social Media post designers?
Not many, in short. Or at least, not specifically purposed. There is guidance and some tools made available by the platforms themselves, which are reviewed in the next section And in section 4.2 we look at the additional tools that can be used by Social Media designers to make their posts accessible. Widely dispersed over the internet though, my Trans Media Design proposal to include as many of these disparate elements in one, user-friendly Social Media-targeted website is also discussed in section 5.1
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4.1 What the Social Media Platforms themselves offer
There are “helpful” accessibility sections on all the main Social Media platforms (see Appendix 2) that give you advice but often leave you confused as to where to go next / how to actually implement their suggestions.
They tend to offer general advice and specific help with auto alt text and captioning and not a great deal else. (See the reference section for Accessibility landing pages for Facebook, Instagram and TikTik).
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The platforms themselves have some way to go too.
“The bugs on Facebook are like the garbage on 57th Street. I’ve stopped noticing.”
— Chris Meredith, Blind User (Glazer, 2019)
In Facebook’s app, for example, you could get just “message friends,”, “photo,” “notifications,” or the news. Screen readers are supposed to read alt-text descriptions— manually entered or devised by AI, but when they encounter an incomprehensible element, they simply say “image” or “may contain the text”— defeating the VI/blind user.
4.2 What help is available on the wider internet
There are legions of general advice websites springing up everywhere like mushrooms. Here is a typical page from a search on Social media accessibility solutions in Google Chrome.
What none of them does - as far as my research tells me -is offer anything other than a barely partial remediation solution.
4.3 Specific accessibility services and tools for the Social media post designer
There are no specific services. There are no specific tools. However, tools common to all digital content accessibility are available such as,
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Colour contrast analysers
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Auto captioning
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Auto alt texting
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PDF remediation software for WCAG compliance
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General Accessibility checkers
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Acrobat Pro DC software
5.1 Foundations for A feasible short/medium term website solution
As a designer of Social Media posts myself, when it comes to accessibility I need a solution that works for my audience, protects me from possible legal issues and is cost-effective and painless to use.
The basic plan of the website is shown as follows:
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How I envisage it working:
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User uploads a draft post.
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Selects the platform(s) you wish to use for the posting.
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Selects the Social Media platform(s) the post is to appear on
Basic Service
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Service and fees explained / consent to proceed
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Website software scans for content - pictures/photos, text and videos etc.
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Performs a basic accessibility scan on everything.
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Adds alt text and captioning (which the user can override if necessary)
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Highlights colour contrast issues and asks if you require us to remediate them (using Acrobat Pro DC) - extra fee
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Resizes pictures/photos to best suit the chosen Social Media platform(s).
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Changes font / font sizes where necessary. (user warned they may need to re-word)
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Requests if you require additional services, for example, conversion to sign languages or foreign languages extra fee
5.2 Longer-term ambitions for the website
As usage and revenue from the original website grow, the range of standard inclusions in the basic package would expand, as automated solutions become available on the market.
6. Conclusion
Social media posting has a relatively poor reputation amongst the disabled
It is possible however to offer a substantial solution to the accessibility needs of Social Media post designers in SMEs to save them time, help them avoid the possible pitfalls of legal problems and develop their brand among that sector.
Our “One-stop-shop” approach will keep pace with and incorporate new accessibility technologies into the website as they become available in the future - so that our “solution” will become iteratively more complete as time goes by.
This will help professional and non-professional Social Media designers concentrate their time/talents on the creation and dissemination of their messages.
7. References
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accessibility.princeton.edu. (n.d.). Social Media Accessibility Guidelines | Digital Accessibility at Princeton. [online] Available at: https://accessibility.princeton.edu/guidelines/social-media. [Accessed 14 March 2022]
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3Play Media. (2019). Making Social Media More Accessible to People with Disabilities. [online] Available at: https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/making-social-media-more-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities/. [Accessed 14 March 2022]
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usability.yale.edu. (n.d.). Social Media | Usability & Web Accessibility. [online] Available at: https://usability.yale.edu/web-accessibility/articles/social-media. [Accessed 18 March 2022]
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Union (EBU), E.B. (2021). 5 easy ways to make your social media content more accessible. [online] www.ebu.ch. Available at: https://www.ebu.ch/news/2021/08/5-easy-ways-to-make-your-social-media-content-more-accessible [Accessed 30 Mar. 2022].
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