Author: Skills Team

Social Media Accessibility Checklist

10 September 2021
Categories: thinking

There are some basic best practices you can implement to keep your content accessible to all users that may see your social media content.

Accessible social media best practices in use makes a big impact on the experience that users with vision and/or hearing disabilities have on social media.

Use the below checklist to double-check your content before posting it.

Hashtags

  • Use hashtags in moderation.
  • Put multi-word hashtags in Camel Case.
  • Place hashtags at the end of posts and tweets when possible.
  • lace hashtag clouds in the first comment of Instagram posts instead of the caption.

Images

  • Add alt text to all images, including GIFs.
  • Add alt text for all copy on images that include flattened text.
  • If an image has excessive flattened copy on it (i.e. an official statement or organizational update), link out from the post or tweet to a webpage where the full statement is available as readable text and add alt text to the image.

Videos

  • Add closed captioning to all videos that contain dialogue and/or audio.
  • Provide a written or audio description of a video if it does not contain audio.
  • Add open captioning to videos where closed captioning is not possible (i.e. Story features, Instagram Reels, TikTok, etc…)
  • Avoid using flashing lights or strobe effects in videos.
  • Make live captioning and/or an on-camera interpreter available for live videos.

Emojis

  • Use emojis in moderation.
  • Do not use emojis as bullet points.
  • Avoid putting emojis in the middle of written content.
  • Stick to default yellow emojis unless a custom skin tone is necessary for context.
  • Double-check the descriptions of emojis on emojipedia.org before using them.

Characters & Symbols

  • Do not use special Unicode characters from external websites to make type appear in different styles or fonts.
  • Do not use ASCII Art in posts or tweets.

 

Glossary

Alternative Text

Alternative text—more commonly known as alt text—is the meta description of an image that a screen reader uses to accurately describe it aloud to blind and visually impaired users.

The platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn allow users to write custom alt text for in-feed images. Twitter also allows users to write alt text for Fleets, their Story feature.

 

ASCII Art

ASCII Art is a design technique that uses characters to create illustrative pictures.

However, screen readers cannot decipher ASCII Art and attempt to read the individual characters that make the illustration up instead. Therefore, ASCII Art is not accessible.

 

Audio Description

Verbalized description of a video that allows blind and visually impaired users to understand its content.

On streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, an audio description is available as a track separate from the closed captions track. The platforms YouTube and Vimeo do not allow for separate audio description tracks, unfortunately.

 

Camel Case

Camel Case—also known as Pascal Case and Title Case—is the method of capitalizing each word in a multi-word hashtag so that screen readers say it correctly.

Examples: #SocialMediaRocks, #UseCamelCase, #GoAlexa

 

Closed Captions

Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a video to provide interpretive info about the dialogue or other audio in the video.

Subtitles are intended for viewers who can’t understand the language being spoken in the video. Closed captions can be toggled on and off.

 

Emojis

Colorful icons popular on social media.

Every individual icon—including ones with custom skin tones—has its own unique description assigned to it that is read aloud when a screen reader comes across an emoji in content. The appearances and descriptions of emojis can vary based on the device or platform they are being viewed on.

Use the site emojipedia.org to double-check emoji descriptions.

 

Flattened Text

Text on digital assets such as images and/or PDF files that has been turned into an object and is no longer recognized by a screen reader as readable characters.

Flattened text is easily identified by dragging your mouse over the copy in question and seeing if you can highlight the individual words.

 

Open Captions

Captions or subtitles that are burned into a video during post-production and always visible.

They cannot be turned off by viewers.

 

Screen Reader

Assistive software program that allows blind and visually impaired users to consume the text that is displayed on a screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display.

Most smart phones have screen readers built into them. On iPhone, the program is called VoiceOver. On Android devices, it’s called TalkBack.

 

Special Unicode

Characters copied and pasted from external websites like IGFonts.io and CoolFont.org that are visually different from the social media platform’s native type.

This trend became popular on Instagram and has spread to the other platforms. However, not all screen readers can decipher these special Unicode characters, making them inaccessible.

Written By: Alexa Heinrich ·
This resource was created by Alexa Heinrich and is shared with permission.

If you have questions or want to learn more about how you can improve your digital accessibility skills, feel free to reach out to me at hello@therealalexa.com.

Disability Inclusion in the Workplace: Why It Matters :-)

1 September 2021
Categories: working

If you’re an employer who is new to the world of disability diversity and inclusion, you may be looking for general guidance and background on the what, why and how of making your organization more welcoming and accessible to applicants and employees with disabilities. Consider this your starting point for understanding how hiring workers with disabilities can benefit your business – and the ways EARN can help.

Why should employers care about creating a disability-inclusive workplace?

EARN is on a mission to help employers weave disability into their diversity and inclusion efforts. Why? Because recruiting, hiring, retaining and advancing workers with disabilities is good for America and good for business. Progressive employers everywhere are learning that businesses inclusive of people with disabilities, including veterans with disabilities, benefit from a wider pool of talent, skills and creative business solutions. They’re also recognizing disability diversity as an important way to tap into a growing market, since people with disabilities represent the third largest market segment in the U.S. So by proactively employing individuals with disabilities, businesses can gain a better understanding of how to meet the needs of this important and expanding customer base.

You may be asking, what skill sets could employees with disabilities bring to my company? The answer is as diverse as the skillsets of any qualified individuals. But, individuals with disabilities may also offer employers a competitive edge, helping diversify and strengthen their workplaces through varied perspectives on how to confront challenges and get the job done. They bring creativity, innovation, problem solving and commitment to the workplace. Studies have shown that employees with disabilities stay at jobs longer, thus reducing the time and cost involved in retraining and replacing personnel. Other benefits reported by businesses include improvement in productivity and morale and more diversity in the workplace. And these benefits can have a real impact on a company’s bottom line. In October 2018, Accenture, in partnership with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Disability:IN, released “Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage,” a report that revealed that companies that embrace best practices for employing and supporting people with disabilities in their workforces consistently outperform their peers, including having, on average, 28 percent higher revenue, double the net income and 30 percent higher economic profit margins.

What does it mean to be disability-inclusive?

There are numerous characteristics associated with disability-friendly companies, and what’s often surprising to employers is that most inclusion practices geared toward employees and job seekers with disabilities have the added bonus of benefiting everyone. Some common characteristics of disability-inclusive companies include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Fostering an INCLUSIVE BUSINESS CULTURE, starting with expressions of commitment from the highest levels and carried across an organization wide through practices such as disability-focused employee resource groups and engagement activities.
  • Ensuring disability-inclusive OUTREACH & RECRUITMENT by developing relationships with a variety of recruitment sources in order to build a pipeline of qualified candidates with disabilities for the future.
  • Promoting disability-inclusive TALENT ACQUISITION & RETENTION PROCESSES by establishing personnel systems and job descriptions that facilitate not only the hiring but also advancement of qualified individuals with disabilities.
  • Providing the ACCOMMODATIONS employees with disabilities may need to do their jobs effectively, whether that means assistive technology, a flexible schedule or numerous other reasonable accommodations or productivity enhancements.
  • Taking steps to ensure EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATION OF COMPANY POLICIES & PRACTICES around its commitment to disability inclusion and providing training on disability-related workplace issues to staff.
  • Ensuring a barrier-free workplace by maintaining ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, as well as a workplace that is physically and attitudinally  accessible.
  • Promoting ACCOUNTABILITY & SELF-IDENTIFICATION, if appropriate, by adopting written policies, practices and procedures and measuring their effectiveness in order to identify areas for improvement.

For more information about these seven core components of a disability-inclusive organization, and a menu of strategies for achieving them, visit the Inclusion@Work Framework for Building a Disability-Inclusive Organization.

John Kemp,  President and CEO of The Viscardi Center, explains the benefits of fostering a disability-inclusive culture in your organization.

MISSION POSSIBLE!! B2B Untapped Talent On Innovative Hiring & Retention

1 September 2021
Categories: thinking

This ‘Business to Business’ guide offers inclusive workforce best practices distilled from decades of experience and expertise. It is a resource for employers on how to adapt recruitment and retention practices to better engage people with disabilities and others with barriers to employment, including success stories and valuable lessons learned by organizations that are already successfully employing inclusively.

The content for this guide was developed throughout 2019. The current situation most organizations find themselves in has since changed dramatically. Certain segments of the guide are likely to change as a result, especially data around workforce shortages. However, information on benefits to business and individuals, and inclusive recruitment and retention practices, remain as valuable as ever. This will become even more important as organizations resume business operations and plan to ramp-up employment again, post-COVID-19.

Bottom line: being a supportive employer and creating a caring,
respectful workplace culture has never been more important!

Click the trusted LINK below to download your guide today!!

Untapped-Talent_Supportive-Employers-Guide_03032020_WEBREADY-Accessible-FINAL-3

 

SEPTEMBER IS ACCESSIBILITY MONTH AT SMALL BUSINESS BC

31 August 2021
Categories: happening

Across British Columbia, there are more than 614,000 individuals aged 15-64 that have a disability. These skilled and diverse individuals represent an important talent pool that remains under-represented in the workforce, despite comparable education and skillsets.

The business case for hiring disabled individuals has never been stronger. For companies looking to gain a competitive advantage, 90% of consumers prefer businesses that employ people with disabilities. Is your business taking steps towards becoming an accessible employer?

“No one should be shut out of meaningful work and participation in society because of barriers to accessibility,” said Nicholas Simons, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “By supporting employers as they hire, train and promote people with disabilities, we are supporting long-term and meaningful employment for the over 20% of British Columbians living with disabilities.”

Introducing Accessibility Month at Small Business BC

September is Disability Employment Month in British Columbia. It offers an important opportunity to celebrate and recognize inclusive employers and the vital contribution people with disabilities make in the workplace.

Small Business BC is marking the occasion by hosting Accessibility Month: ‘It Matters’, a month of free business education featuring ASL interpretation and closed captioning. Accessibility Month covers a variety of popular business topics, from business planning to marketing and payroll.

This year, our theme of ‘It Matters’ highlights that individuals with a disability are equal in every way, and we all have an important role to play in empowering their success through the creation of a more accessible world. By offering broader access to skills and training, we hope to encourage more people to join us on this important journey toward removing barriers and creating a more inclusive workplace.

In keeping with current public health guidelines, all educational sessions will be delivered remotely via webinar. These presentations will show the ASL interpretation and on-screen live captioning alongside the webinar speaker.

How it Works

Whether you’re looking to start or grow your business, our educational calendar for the month is stacked with informative and practical sessions that will put your business on the road to success. Demand is expected to be extremely high and places are limited. Book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. If you do happen to miss out on the webinar of your choice, we will be opening a waitlist.

Webinars Available During Accessibility Month

 

 

Google Launches Program To Hire More People With Autism

26 August 2021
Categories: happening

Google is teaming up with Stanford University in an effort to make its workforce more neurodiverse.

The technology giant said recently that it is launching a new program aimed at bringing more people with autism into its cloud workforce and supporting them better.

With Google Cloud’s Autism Career Program, the company said that it will work with experts from the Stanford Neurodiversity Project — part of the university’s medical school — to train as many as 500 Google Cloud managers and others who are integral in the hiring process to work more effectively with candidates who have autism.

Stanford will also help coach job applicants with autism and the support will continue if candidates are hired.

In addition, there will be changes to the interview process for those who are part of the Autism Career Program in order to be more accommodating, according to Rob Enslin, president of global customer operations for Google Cloud. Candidates with autism may receive extra interview time, be offered questions in advance or be able to do their interview in writing.

“These accommodations don’t give those candidates an unfair advantage,” Enslin said in a blog post about the new program. “It’s just the opposite: They remove an unfair disadvantage so candidates have a fair and equitable chance to compete for the job.”

Enslin cited statistics showing that just 29% of those with autism have paid employment, a situation he called “tragic” and one he said is in many cases the result of unconscious bias.

“This bias often unintentionally marginalizes great candidates and means businesses miss out on valuable talent who can contribute and enrich the workplace,” Enslin said. “This program is just one example of Google Cloud’s commitment to inclusion, and it is an important step forward to building a more representative team and creating value for customers and stakeholders.”

 

Invis – ABLE

26 August 2021
Categories: working

Other Types of Invisible Disabilities

  • Chronic Pain: A variety of conditions may cause chronic pain. A few of those reasons may be back problems, bone disease, physical injuries, and any number of other reasons. Chronic pain may not be noticeable to people who do not understand the victims specific medical condition.
  • Chronic Fatigue: This type of disability refers to an individual who constantly feels tired. This can be extremely debilitating and affect every aspect of a persons every day life.
  • Mental Illness: There are many mental illnesses that do qualify for disability benefits. Some examples are depression, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, and many others. These diseases can also be completely debilitating to the victim, and can make performing everyday tasks extremely difficult, if not impossible.
  • Chronic Dizziness: Often associated with problems of the inner ear, chronic dizziness can lead to impairment when walking, driving, working, sleeping, and other common tasks.

People with psychiatric disabilities make up a large segment of the invisibly-disabled population.

Invisible disabilities can also include chronic illnesses such as renal failure, diabetes, and sleep disorders if those diseases significantly impair normal activities of daily living. If a medical condition does not impair normal activities, then it is not considered a disability.

96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with an illness that is invisible.

Many people living with a hidden physical disability or mental challenge are still able to be active in their hobbies, work and be active in sports. On the other hand, some struggle just to get through their day at work and some cannot work at all.

List of SOME Invisible Disabilities

 

Employer Inclusion Awareness

26 August 2021
Categories: thinking

September is a time to celebrate and recognize inclusive employers and the important contribution people with disabilities make in the workplace.

5 Easy Tips to Being a More Inclusive Employer

    1.  Talk to your staff about the benefits of inclusive hiring and why it makes good business sense.
    2.  Celebrate the diversity of your existing team through a lunch and learn or group outing.
    3.  Talk to other organizations – like members of the Presidents Group – who are also on this journey and learn from their experiences.
    4.  Review your recruitment practices – what barriers might exist for someone trying to apply?
    5. Check out what some of our Presidents Group members have done:

 

 

What Are Other Employers Doing in September?

  •  Vancity is hosting a book club on the topic of disabilities for employees.
  •  Gabi & Jules Bakery is connecting with other small businesses to have a conversation about inclusive employment.
  •  The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will feature intranet stories on the topic of people with disabilities in the workplace.
  •  Destination BC is engaging their employees by having quizzes related to content on accessibleemployers.ca
  •  The BC Tech Association is following @AccessEmployers on Twitter and re-tweeting relevant content to spread awareness within their network.

What is your organization doing to build diversity and inclusion?

Shared from: https://accessibleemployers.ca/september-is-disability-employment-month-in-bc/

 

 

 

PRINCETON JOB BOARD

25 August 2021
Categories: working

WorkBC Princeton welcomes you to come into our centre and look at our Job Board!