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Barrier-free posting on the net: "You could help millions of people"

2020-11-08T22:11:36.880Z


When Heiko Kunert is on the Internet, only part of it will be noticed. As a blind person, many tweets and postings remain hidden from him - in his opinion, other users could often change that.


Icon: enlarge

Smartphone with colorful app symbols: "Unfortunately, hurdles are still part of everyday life for people with disabilities"

Photo: MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP

"Jan", says the female voice of the voice output soberly and pulls the 'a' very long.

Immediately afterwards: "Microbe emoji, mask on, face with mouthguard emoji".

Heiko Kunert is on Twitter, his voice output is currently reading out the username of satirist Jan Böhmermann.

"Hand washing, microbe emoji," continues the voice output.

"Bohemian man, face with straight mouth and a raised eyebrow emoji".

Kuhnert cannot see the many colorful emojis that sprout Böhmermann's names; he has been blind since he was seven.

A computer voice reads him every tweet, from the hashtag to the winking smiley.

Kuhnert has been the managing director of the Hamburg Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired since 2013.

Previously, the 44-year-old was in charge of the club's social media activities as a PR consultant.

From an early age, Kunert experienced the hurdles social networks hold in store for blind and visually impaired people.

Some of them come from technology, others arise from postings by users who usually do not think about what their contribution will sound like when it is read out.

To person

Icon: enlarge Photo: BSVH

Heiko Kunert

, born in 1976, is a political scientist and lives in Hamburg.

Since 2013 he has been managing director of the Hamburg Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Kunert is completely blind and is committed to a barrier-free society.

 On his blog, Kunert writes on the subject of 'Accessibility on the Net' and, as an expert on the 'Accessible Posting' initiative, gives tips on how to write social media posts that are suitable for the blind and visually impaired.

In the interview, he talks about how everyone can make their postings a little more accessible.

SPIEGEL:

Mr. Kunert, you use social media very often, both professionally and privately.

What do you particularly appreciate about the platforms?

Heiko Kunert:

We people with disabilities get into conversation with other people via social networks and can thus convey our topics.

In some cases, we can communicate more easily there than in the real world outside.

Sometimes it's easier to start a conversation digitally.

SPIEGEL:

However, you criticize the fact that social media are not accessible.

What hurdles do you face?

Kunert:

The most common barrier for blind and visually impaired people is our strongly visual world.

In social media in particular, a lot of content consists of videos and images.

These are often not accessible to me at first because there are no descriptions or alternative texts for pictures, for example.

As a result, I don't understand many postings.

SPIEGEL:

What is the difference between alternative text and the usual caption?

Kunert:

Alternative texts are short descriptions of images for blind and visually impaired people.

There are corresponding tools on social media platforms that make posts accessible.

If you as a user upload a picture to Instagram, for example, you can write an alternative text for it.

To do this, click on "Advanced Settings", there is the "Add alternative text" field.

There you enter in brief words what can be seen in the picture.

This text is then read to me by my synthetic speech output.

SPIEGEL:

Is this also possible for videos and gifs?

Kunert:

Unfortunately, it is not technically possible to insert an alternative text.

One exception: Twitter has this option for gifs.

But that doesn't work with videos.

If you would like to post as barrier-free as possible, you can of course still name important things in a video.

For example, if a building is being filmed, one could briefly describe what it looks like.

That would help a blind or visually impaired person to understand what is happening in the video.

Alternatively, you can use the text accompanying the video.

SPIEGEL:

Can sighted people also read the alternative texts?

Kunert:

No, you can't see that.

It is therefore helpful if you add the hashtag #Picture description, for example.

The description "! B" also works.

SPIEGEL:

Let's stick with hashtags.

As a user, what can I do to use accessible hashtags?

Kunert:

It is best to capitalize the first letter of every new word.

Then the voice output recognizes that a new word is beginning and reads it out accordingly.

The same goes for abbreviations.

Here, too, it helps if every letter is capitalized.

In the case of lowercase letters, the speech output reads out the entire hashtag as one word.

The emphasis then goes flute and for me it is difficult to see what the hashtag means.

SPIEGEL:

Does your voice output also recognize emojis?

Kunert:

Yes, as a rule, emojis also have a predefined alternative text that my voice output announces.

Analogously, I hear something like 'blowing your nose' or 'smiling face with sunglasses'.

It gets annoying when emojis are used excessively.

On Twitter in particular, many users already use several emojis in their profile names.

It can happen that my voice output reads five or six emojis to me before the actual tweet. 

SPIEGEL:

How can that be prevented?

Kunert:

I would recommend that you only use emojis in a measured manner.

For you, an emoji is a stylistic device - a small image that may even briefly sum up complex things.

In my case, however, the text becomes significantly longer.

With some emojis you can also adjust gender and skin color, of course that is all announced to me.

And when there are five or six emojis in a row, the voice output takes a little time.

"It's not that different from the world out there"

SPIEGEL:

We have now talked a lot about users.

Where else do the platforms have to add?

Kunert:

The keyword here is: barrier-free web design.

The platform providers would have to design the entire navigation in such a way that I can control menu items with my auxiliary technology and know which individual operating elements are available.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have optimized a lot in recent years so that blind and visually impaired people can use the feeds well.

However, for me, for example, stories are not yet accessible.

My voice output only tells me the username on Instagram and something cryptic like "Ig icon direct outline 24".

SPIEGEL:

If you look around on Instagram, for example, it often seems as if awareness of inclusion on the internet has increased.

Have the hurdles been reduced in recent years?

Kunert:

Partly, partly.

On the one hand, there are new tools such as alternative texts, on the other hand, social media are becoming more and more visual.

Because the posts on Facebook or Twitter used to be much more text-heavy, postings were virtually barrier-free for me.

SPIEGEL:

Your stories suggest that you are confronted with barriers online every day.

How do you deal with that?

Kunert:

It's not that different from the world out there.

Unfortunately, hurdles are still part of everyday life for people with disabilities.

I don't feel emotionally attacked by any image without alt text.

But it's the sum that makes me feel left out.

Especially when there is no willingness to deal with the topic.

That feels like shit.

SPIEGEL:

What should be improved?

Kunert:

I would be happy if more users would just try to post without barriers.

It may not work perfectly right away, but practice helps here too.

Try it!

You could help millions of people.

SPIEGEL:

And what is your answer to someone who is reluctant to show consideration?

Kunert:

I always like to say: Not only disabled people have a right to inclusion, but also non-disabled people.

Once you start making your posts more accessible, you may find yourself meeting new people.

Suddenly you are exchanging pictures with blind people or talking to deaf people about your videos.

That is also an enrichment for the non-disabled person.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-11-08

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