dai11y 27/11/2019

Your daily frequent11y newsletter, brought to you by @ChrisBAshton:

When Things Go Wrong for Blind Users on Facebook, They Go Really Wrong

  • An article highlighting the regularity of bugs and missing features encountered by screen reader users on the Facebook apps and site, with a strong message that there is an under-investment in accessibility development on Facebook and Instagram. A feature for adding colourful backgrounds to posts meant all posts were read out as “Awesome Text Status” for a week. Facebook’s attempt at automating alt text has met a muted response; “image may contain child” doesn’t allow screen reader users to participate. There are options to provide alt text on uploaded images, and forms for flagging accessibility issues, but both are criticised as being too hard to find. Some users have created Facebook groups to share images of text they want transcribing by sighted volunteers. There’s something to be said about the ‘move fast and break things’ ethos and what that means for disabled users.

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