LiteralGrillSep 4, 2023

I see people on my timeline now and then grumpy that people are trying to encourage others to use alt-text, sometimes saying people are "too pushy" or they "deserve to be able to post in peace."

So folks actively work together for once to advocate for accessibility for disabled people and your primary complaint is that it's annoying so stop? I hope folks wake up and realize how fucked up that is.

ESPECIALLY when tons of people refuse to wear masks leaving us stuck in our homes where social media is a godsend for having community.

I'd have loved to see these folks' reactions when people in wheelchairs were using sledge hammers to put in curb cuts back in the day. Maybe we gotta bring that kind of energy back. #Disablity #DisabilityJustice

Show threadLiteralGrillSep 4, 2023

I'm so glad this has taken off! So I want to ask anyone here a question: Why doesn't Mastodon simply require #alttext on every post?

It is implied the "convenience" of abled people is more important because the product needs to grow than it is for disabled people to be able to have their accessibility needs met.

Hell, even TikTok has the option to not see any uncaptioned videos! We can expect Mastodon to do better. Perhaps we can all get @Gargron to consider implementing required alt-text for the entire platform to fix this issue. #Disability #DisabilityJustice

Edit: Yep, gotta not post so early in the morning because you forget obvious things! We would need to figure out a way for folks who are unable to create alt-text on photos themselves to be included in this process.

I've seen folks also suggesting the idea of allowing folks to generate alt-text for others, which would be cool. I'd love to see any suggestions people have because otherwise, people will keep being "annoyed" by folks who simply want to enjoy Mastodon to add alt-text!

Show threadE. Murphy, the name you know
@literalgrill @Gargron Speaking as a software dev, make it required and a significant number of pictures will have alt text of "."
Sep 4, 2023 at 3:40pmWeb
Show threadLiteralGrillSep 4, 2023

@emurphy @Gargron I can't even deny that I agree with you, a lot of folks will still kinda suck about it.

Perhaps instead of reminders to post with alt-text being opt in, they should be opt out?

And even then, maybe taking an idea from TikTok to allow folks to skip out on non alt-text posts could be a cool ideas. Also have this defaulted to being on, really encourage people to use things as they should.

Show threadありさんSep 4, 2023
@literalgrill This would definitely help a lot of people who simply forget to add alt txt despite meaning to.