Maria Staack 
According to the most recent U.S. Census data, about 45.8 million Americans, roughly 13.7% of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, have a disability. That means there’s a large chance that someone with a disability will come across your digital content, probably more frequently than you would guess. In this event, it’s important that anyone can access your content. Not only does it benefit the user by providing an easier, more desirable digital experience, but it also helps your business reach a larger audience.
Disability Affects Everyone
Anyone can get a disability at any time, and most people know someone who has a disability. Ensuring an accessible digital presence means more than just ticking boxes to meet guidelines from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); it requires meaningful effort to foster and create community.
Perhaps your content caters specifically to an audience with high rates of disability, such as older adults or neurodivergent people, or you want your content to engage as many people as possible. There are many reasons to incorporate accessible design in your content, beyond legal necessity.
4 Easy Ways to Make Your Social Media Accounts More Accessible
You might be surprised by how easy it is to begin incorporating accessibility into your social media presence. Here are just a few techniques you can apply across platforms:
Subtitles
When creating videos for social media, you should always include subtitles. Not only do subtitles allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to understand your video, but in recent years, studies have found that most people view online video content with the sound off.
This example of a digital trend intersecting with digital accessibility shows that it’s impossible to predict how someone may approach and interact with your content. The best way to get ahead of this is to provide as many avenues for engagement as possible, which starts with meeting accessibility standards.
Color
For people with low vision, processing disorders such as dyslexia, or even people without disabilities, it can be difficult to read low-contrast text. When creating visuals, make sure to use background and text colors with a high contrast ratio. You can use free tools like the Adobe color contrast checker to ensure your colors meet recommended accessibility guidelines.
Typeface
It is important to know when to use a serif versus a sans serif font. A serif is the small decorative line attached to a letter in fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia. Examples of a sans serif font include Helvetica or Arial.
While most people with good vision can read serif fonts with no issue, people with low vision or processing disorders typically have a much harder time reading them. To provide accessibility, both font types may be used in headers or titles, but body text should always appear in a sans serif font.
Hashtags
Hashtags using multiple words should always use title case or camel case. Title case—also known as upper camel case or pascal case—is when the first letter of every word is capitalized (e.g. YouTube), while camel case capitalizes the first letter of all but the first word (e.g. iPhone). For example, the hashtag #motivationmonday should be formatted as #MotivationMonday or #motivationMonday.
Applying these conventions in hashtags, where multiple words appear in a row, is essential for meeting the accessibility needs of several groups. People with screen readers or processing disorders, people who are not native speakers of the language the hashtag is in, or anyone reading your content quickly might have difficulty parsing out the individual words of a hashtag in all lowercase.
Digital Accessibility is Essential
The world of digital accessibility extends far beyond these simple tips. Alt text, hyperlinks, content warnings, and many other elements not mentioned here impact user experience on social media, for those with disabilities and those without. Implement these tips as your first step towards more accessible content.
Creating accessible content provides more opportunities for engagement with your brand. This is especially relevant for brands hoping to reach more people, or brands already catering to a wide range of audiences or specifically serving populations with disabilities. No matter how your business operates, it is easy and essential to lean into accessibility online.
Posted In Digital Strategy & Social Media