Accessibility Awareness
@a11yawareness.bsky.social
Helping you better understand web accessibility for people with disabilities. Created by @patrickmgarvin.bsky.social.
People who want to make the web accessible need to understand the many different ways that people with disabilities use the web. This W3C resource offers a good introduction to how disabled people navigate the web, and barriers they commonly encounter.
www.w3.org/WAI/people-u...
www.w3.org/WAI/people-u...
How People with Disabilities Use the Web
Introduces how people with disabilities, including people with age-related impairments, use the Web.
www.w3.org
December 2, 2025 at 3:29 AM
People who want to make the web accessible need to understand the many different ways that people with disabilities use the web. This W3C resource offers a good introduction to how disabled people navigate the web, and barriers they commonly encounter.
www.w3.org/WAI/people-u...
www.w3.org/WAI/people-u...
If you’re a design engineer, a designer, a front-end developer, a JavaScript developer, or a back-end developer, @sarasoueidan.com's "Practical Accessibility" can give you the essential knowledge you need to gain a deep understanding of accessibility.
practical-accessibility.today
practical-accessibility.today
December 1, 2025 at 7:48 PM
If you’re a design engineer, a designer, a front-end developer, a JavaScript developer, or a back-end developer, @sarasoueidan.com's "Practical Accessibility" can give you the essential knowledge you need to gain a deep understanding of accessibility.
practical-accessibility.today
practical-accessibility.today
ASCII art is illustrations made out of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other characters from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). Folks using screen readers or text-to-speech will hear gibberish.
December 1, 2025 at 3:38 PM
ASCII art is illustrations made out of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other characters from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). Folks using screen readers or text-to-speech will hear gibberish.
Alt text always depends on context. Imagine an icon of a computer printer. It could be used on a page of free icons. It could be on a school's computer lab site. Or it could be part of a button that allows you to print the current page. In each instance, the same icon would need different alt text.
November 29, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Alt text always depends on context. Imagine an icon of a computer printer. It could be used on a page of free icons. It could be on a school's computer lab site. Or it could be part of a button that allows you to print the current page. In each instance, the same icon would need different alt text.
Reposted by Accessibility Awareness
For those in America who will be in rooms with TVs tuned to football during this long Thanksgiving weekend, either by choice or not, you have a great chance to explain accessibility concepts. No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is based on past experiences. Yes, it has totally worked!
Thread 🧵
Thread 🧵
November 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
For those in America who will be in rooms with TVs tuned to football during this long Thanksgiving weekend, either by choice or not, you have a great chance to explain accessibility concepts. No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is based on past experiences. Yes, it has totally worked!
Thread 🧵
Thread 🧵
Vestibular disorders affect people's balance as well as their visual perception of their world around them. Don't make animations, sliders, videos, or rapid movement start automatically, as autoplaying elements could trigger a bad reaction in people who have vestibular disorders.
November 29, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Vestibular disorders affect people's balance as well as their visual perception of their world around them. Don't make animations, sliders, videos, or rapid movement start automatically, as autoplaying elements could trigger a bad reaction in people who have vestibular disorders.
The hashtag #accessibility allows you to find lots of accessibility-related resources. To find accessibility resources in Spanish, use the hashtag #accesibilidad. The hashtag #accessibilité helps you find resources in French.
November 28, 2025 at 8:52 PM
The hashtag #accessibility allows you to find lots of accessibility-related resources. To find accessibility resources in Spanish, use the hashtag #accesibilidad. The hashtag #accessibilité helps you find resources in French.
Marcy Sutton's "Testing Accessibility" is a self-paced course designed to help you understand accessibility essentials, learn how to test existing apps, and bake in accessibility from the start.
Starting today and through the weekend I’m offering a discount on Testing Accessibility, my course on web accessibility. Check it out and get 50% off! testingaccessibility.com/buy
Buy Testing Accessibility
Learn how to build and test accessible web applications with Marcy Sutton.
testingaccessibility.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Marcy Sutton's "Testing Accessibility" is a self-paced course designed to help you understand accessibility essentials, learn how to test existing apps, and bake in accessibility from the start.
First and foremost, alt text must always be informative and descriptive of the content in the image. It can have character and humor, but it still needs to be informative and descriptive. Alt text is not a place to add easter eggs or jokes for sighted users.
November 28, 2025 at 12:47 AM
First and foremost, alt text must always be informative and descriptive of the content in the image. It can have character and humor, but it still needs to be informative and descriptive. Alt text is not a place to add easter eggs or jokes for sighted users.
For those in America who will be in rooms with TVs tuned to football during this long Thanksgiving weekend, either by choice or not, you have a great chance to explain accessibility concepts. No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is based on past experiences. Yes, it has totally worked!
Thread 🧵
Thread 🧵
November 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
For those in America who will be in rooms with TVs tuned to football during this long Thanksgiving weekend, either by choice or not, you have a great chance to explain accessibility concepts. No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is based on past experiences. Yes, it has totally worked!
Thread 🧵
Thread 🧵
Some are suggesting you deliberately write inaccurate or confusing alt text, because they say this confuses AI scrapers that are analyzing images.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
November 26, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Some are suggesting you deliberately write inaccurate or confusing alt text, because they say this confuses AI scrapers that are analyzing images.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
Your site's users need enough time to interact with content and fill out forms. People with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, dexterity impairments, and cognitive disabilities might need more time for things such as forms. Allow users to turn off or extend time limits.
November 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Your site's users need enough time to interact with content and fill out forms. People with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, dexterity impairments, and cognitive disabilities might need more time for things such as forms. Allow users to turn off or extend time limits.
Some will publish podcasts but wait up to 24 hours before adding transcripts instead of publishing them together. The end goal should be to have the transcript ready at the same time as the podcast. This will require multiple teams working together toward that goal.
November 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Some will publish podcasts but wait up to 24 hours before adding transcripts instead of publishing them together. The end goal should be to have the transcript ready at the same time as the podcast. This will require multiple teams working together toward that goal.
Automatic captions make it difficult to watch videos because the viewer is forced to decipher misspelled or mistranslated words that appear in a string of text without any punctuation. These can be distracting and disorienting. Always edit your captions before publishing.
November 24, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Automatic captions make it difficult to watch videos because the viewer is forced to decipher misspelled or mistranslated words that appear in a string of text without any punctuation. These can be distracting and disorienting. Always edit your captions before publishing.
If you do business in Canada, you should be aware of these accessibility laws: Accessible Canada Act (ACA), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA), and Accessible British Columbia Act (ABCA).
www.deque.com/blog/canada-...
www.deque.com/blog/canada-...
What Your Organization Needs to Navigate Canada Digital Accessibility Laws | Deque
In this post, we focus on the different digital accessibility laws in Canada and how to meet digital accessibility compliance requirements.
www.deque.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
If you do business in Canada, you should be aware of these accessibility laws: Accessible Canada Act (ACA), Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA), and Accessible British Columbia Act (ABCA).
www.deque.com/blog/canada-...
www.deque.com/blog/canada-...
For screen readers to recognize headings, heading text can't just be body text or normal text that's been made to look bigger and bolder. It must be formatted as a heading. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, this can be done in the styles box. In HTML, use the tags h1 through h6.
November 22, 2025 at 10:49 PM
For screen readers to recognize headings, heading text can't just be body text or normal text that's been made to look bigger and bolder. It must be formatted as a heading. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, this can be done in the styles box. In HTML, use the tags h1 through h6.
You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.
Automatically updating content can be extremely distracting, especially for users with vestibular disorders or attention difficulties. This could force users to scroll through page content to not see the animation, or to just look away. Allow animations to be paused or stopped.
November 21, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Automatically updating content can be extremely distracting, especially for users with vestibular disorders or attention difficulties. This could force users to scroll through page content to not see the animation, or to just look away. Allow animations to be paused or stopped.
You don't necessarily want to use the exact same alt text each time a specific image is used. Alt text must consider the context of the image and why it's being included on a site, post, article, etc. In other words, alt text depends on where you're including the image and why.
November 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
You don't necessarily want to use the exact same alt text each time a specific image is used. Alt text must consider the context of the image and why it's being included on a site, post, article, etc. In other words, alt text depends on where you're including the image and why.
Plain language is communication that your audience or readers can understand the first time they hear or read it. The terminology you use will vary depending on the audience. Always aim to avoid jargon when possible, especially when you have a broad general audience.
November 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Plain language is communication that your audience or readers can understand the first time they hear or read it. The terminology you use will vary depending on the audience. Always aim to avoid jargon when possible, especially when you have a broad general audience.
People often ask what accessibility considerations to keep in mind when creating data visualizations. For guidance and advice, check out Sarah L. Fossheim's list of 10 things to do (or not do) when designing accessible data visualizations.
fossheim.io/writing/post...
fossheim.io/writing/post...
An intro to designing accessible data visualizations by Sarah L. Fossheim
10 dos and don'ts for designing accessible data visualizations, including real-life examples and resources
fossheim.io
November 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
People often ask what accessibility considerations to keep in mind when creating data visualizations. For guidance and advice, check out Sarah L. Fossheim's list of 10 things to do (or not do) when designing accessible data visualizations.
fossheim.io/writing/post...
fossheim.io/writing/post...
ANDI (Accessible Name & Description Inspector) is a free accessibility testing tool used by people testing for Section 508 compliance. ANDI can't detect everything, but can find some issues and give some suggestions to improve the issues it detects.
www.ssa.gov/accessibilit...
www.ssa.gov/accessibilit...
www.ssa.gov
November 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
ANDI (Accessible Name & Description Inspector) is a free accessibility testing tool used by people testing for Section 508 compliance. ANDI can't detect everything, but can find some issues and give some suggestions to improve the issues it detects.
www.ssa.gov/accessibilit...
www.ssa.gov/accessibilit...
If you feel like you don't know what you don't know about accessibility, it can help to follow folks who discuss assistive technology, accessibility and disability. Here's a list of people who post a lot about those.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
November 19, 2025 at 6:17 PM
If you feel like you don't know what you don't know about accessibility, it can help to follow folks who discuss assistive technology, accessibility and disability. Here's a list of people who post a lot about those.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
If you feel daunted by the idea accessibility testing and don't know where to begin, this resource from accessibility engineer Rachele DiTullio can help. This includes an accessibility testing spreadsheet, along with guides on how to prepare for testing.
racheleditullio.com/projects/acc...
racheleditullio.com/projects/acc...
Accessibility Testing - Rachele DiTullio
Hundreds of folks have expressed an interest in watching someone go through an accessibility test. I perform accessibility testing regularly and created these resources to demonstrate the process. My ...
racheleditullio.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:35 AM
If you feel daunted by the idea accessibility testing and don't know where to begin, this resource from accessibility engineer Rachele DiTullio can help. This includes an accessibility testing spreadsheet, along with guides on how to prepare for testing.
racheleditullio.com/projects/acc...
racheleditullio.com/projects/acc...
Capitalization affects how people read hashtags or how people hear them on screen readers. Use #camelCase or #PascalCase in hashtags instead of lowercase. You could have #DoctorWhoRewatch ("Doctor Who Rewatch") or #doctorwhorewatch ("doctor whore watch.")
November 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Capitalization affects how people read hashtags or how people hear them on screen readers. Use #camelCase or #PascalCase in hashtags instead of lowercase. You could have #DoctorWhoRewatch ("Doctor Who Rewatch") or #doctorwhorewatch ("doctor whore watch.")