#i learned a lot about how the blind and visually-impared internet population navigate the internet...

[uncanny-tranny]

Honestly, the craziest part of accessibility is that there aren't many abled people (and disabled people who aren't disabled in Every Way Possible) who wouldn't benefit from any of the accessibility options out there

ALT text has made it so much better to navigate image-based pages! I'm not visually-impared, but tumblr is terrible at loading images, and I'm not always connected to WiFi. People who add ALT text make it easy to satiate my curiosity when images don't load! This, coupled with actually learning how blind and visually-impared people navigate the online world, has inspired me to do my best to emulate the things I find helpful, even if the way it helps me is very different than theirs. Having a sense of scale in how it helps me versus how it actually makes the internet usable to the blind and visually-impared is something I do try to keep in mind.

Navigating a world with accessible options is primarily going to help the disabled, and it's imperative to keep this in mind. I do think, though, that illustrating just how much accessibility impacts even abled people's lives can help inspire people to think, "wow, I can't imagine a world without [accessibility option] and I don't need it, but it makes life so much easier." The more I interact with accessibility options I don't need, I still find it so helpful. I can't even imagine how amazing it is when you do need that accessibility and it's actually provided to you.

I don't think that abled people should only be in it for themselves. Again, accessibility should put disabled needs first and foremost. But I can't help but wonder how many people you can get to understand this by first saying how it impacts them, too.

#disability #accessibility #long post #ALT text is a perfect example of accessibility for not only the visually-impared but for a vast array of sighted people too #i don't want people to construe this as 'oh so only abled people matter in accessibility huh' because that isn't what i am saying #basically... it can be hard at times to viscerally experience a disability you don't have and to be accommodated for it #i learned a lot about how the blind and visually-impared internet population navigate the internet... #...and seeing how ALT text for instance has even helped *me* has me realize how important i found it... #...so i couldn't imagine just how important it is if you cannot see an image the way a sighted person would #it's things like that that can help teach abled people about how they even benefit from disability advocacy and don't even know it #ily accessibility (which is why i love to talk about it) #yet another post i composed while pausing skyrim (this is Actually a problem (lighthearted))