How can you design social media content that is accessible to people with disabilities?

1 Use alt text and captions

One of the most common and important ways to make your content accessible is to provide alternative text (alt text) and captions for your images, videos, and audio clips. Alt text is a brief description of the visual content that screen readers can read aloud to people who are blind or have low vision. Captions are text versions of the spoken or sound content that appear on the screen for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Both alt text and captions should be clear, concise, and relevant to the context of your content. Most social media platforms have options to add alt text and captions, or you can use third-party tools or services.

2 Choose colors and fonts wisely

Making your content accessible can be achieved by selecting colors and fonts that are easy to read and distinguish. People with color blindness, low vision, or dyslexia may have difficulty reading text with low contrast, small size, or complex shapes. To prevent these issues, you should use high contrast colors for text and background, such as black on white or yellow on blue. Additionally, avoid using color alone to convey meaning, such as red for error or green for success. It is important to use fonts that are simple, clear, and large enough to read. Also, avoid fonts that are too thin, too fancy, or too similar to each other. Finally, break up text with headings, bullet points, and white space to make it easier to scan.

3 Simplify your language and structure

Making your content accessible can be achieved by simplifying language and structure. People with cognitive impairments, learning disabilities, or limited language skills may struggle to understand lengthy, complex, or jargon-filled content. To make your content easier to comprehend, you should use short sentences and paragraphs that express one idea at a time. Utilize plain and simple words that are familiar to your audience, and try to avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms without explanation. Additionally, it is beneficial to employ active voice and present tense as much as possible instead of passive voice and conditional or hypothetical statements. Further, clear and consistent labels, headings, and navigation should be used. Lastly, an overview or summary of your content at the beginning and a call to action at the end can be included for further clarity.

4 Test and get feedback

A final way to make your content accessible is to test and get feedback from your users. You can use tools such as accessibility checkers, screen readers, color contrast analyzers, or readability scores to evaluate your content for accessibility issues. However, these tools are not enough to ensure that your content is truly accessible to everyone. You also need to get feedback from real users who have different abilities, preferences, and experiences. You can do this by conducting user research, surveys, interviews, or usability tests with people with disabilities or people who use assistive technologies. By listening to their needs and opinions, you can improve your content and make it more inclusive and effective.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?