This Week In Writing we want to ensure everyone has equal access to our writing. Here are ways to write for accessibility.
Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Unsplash
Did you know accessibility is an important consideration for writers? I’ll be honest with you all, I did not until I read Angela Phan’s fantastic article explaining how to write with accessibility in mind. Angela outlines a few simple steps all writers should consider when creating.
Angela’s article is one of only two articles in The Writing Cooperative regarding writing for accessible audiences. The other, written by Melinda Crow for our Writer’s Toolkit series, is an article about using video and audio to aid those with vision impairments. Considering we’ve published so few articles on accessibility, it seems I may not be only in realizing this is a consideration all writers should explore.
Medium provides the ability to add alt text to images. While I’ve created websites for decades, it wasn’t until recently that I learned the alt text for images is for screen readers. So, instead of repeating the caption, the alt text should be a written description of the image. The alt text for the image above is “a person reading a Kindle while laying in a hammock.”
We all have a responsibility to ensure our work is accessible to everyone. I’m learning about accessibility issues and invite you to join me. Do you have a personal story about writing for accessibility? Do you have a routine that ensures your work is accessible by all? Reply and join this week’s discussion or draft an article to help our audience learn. Our submissions are open.
Do You Write For Accessibility? was originally published in The Writing Cooperative on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Read more: writingcooperative.com