Accessibility resources for disability-friendly arts programs

Accessibility resources for disability-friendly arts programs
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Why content should be accessible? 

Research shows the importance of online accessibility for disabled audiences.

  • More Australians with disability participate creatively in the arts (61%) than people without disability (41%)
  • covid data says people with disability are less comfortable attending in-person events (35%, compared with 50%)
  • disabled audiences are more likely to participate online (57%, compared to 46%), and
  • online events are the preferred format for disabled audiences (19%, compared to 8%).

Making content accessible allows the work to become more meaningful when a range of voices are represented and included.

 

Tools to help you make your content accessible 

1. Contrast Checker

Contrast is super important in helping people perceive content. We’ve all been to a webpage with painful colour contrast. It makes interpreting the information almost impossible.

This is a fantastic tool that tells you the contrast of two colours against each other. You enter the colour hex codes you want to check. It rates the colours pass or fail based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Visit https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker

An example of bad contrast colours. Green Text: "An example of" over the top of magenta pink and yellow background. Light Blue Text: "bad contrast colours" on top of magenta pink background. There are two bright yellow shapes in the top and bottom left corner with thin white lines overlapping. In the lower right corner there is a green shape with a red line overlapping.

An example of bad contrast colours.

2. Font size adjustment plugins: One-Click Accessibility

One-Click Accessibility is a free plug-in for WordPress websites, and we use it on our website. This plug-in is more than a font-size adjuster, it also offers accessibility controls.

The plug-in allows users to change the size of the text, font style, page contrast, underline links and more. It shows up with a blue and white accessibility icon on the left-hand side of the page. The interface is friendly and easy to navigate.

Visit: https://wpaccessibility.io


3. Screen readers: Screen Reader CAG Accessibility Tools

This is a paid text to speech plug-in that offers accessibility features to help all users with visual impairments. It has an audio reader and allows users to change the size of the text, font style, page contrast and more.

We also use this plug-in on our website, and it appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

While the interface isn’t as clean as One Click Accessibility regarding font resizing, the audio reader does a great job.

Visit: https://storejextensions.org/extensions/screen_reader.html


4. Audio description/captioning services: The Substation

The Substation is a leading captioning and audio description company based in Australia.

They are straightforward to work with and have a quick turnaround time. We used The Substation for Limits On-Demand.


Check out the Audio Described trailer for Limits:


Promotional video features snippets of Bonnie Curtis Projects performing in Limits(On-Demand).


Alison and Javier create audio descriptions and caption files of a very high standard. Their clients include Roadshow Entertainment, Universal Sony Pictures, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, ICON Films, Beyond Home Entertainment, iTunes, Netflix and Bonnie Curtis Projects.

Visit: https://thesubstation.com.au

 

How to make your online posts more accessible

Here are 3 ways you can make your online posts more accessible today.

 

1. Alt text and image descriptions

This is the text used in place of an image. People who use screen readers use this to get a better idea of the image on the screen. Alt-text is displayed when an image isn’t working.

Bec Hogan describes the best way to write alt text in Accessible Arts’ Making Social Media Accessible video – https://youtu.be/rG290F0CKbQ.

“The best practice is to close your eyes, and if somebody can read the text to you if you’ve imagined a reasonably accurate description of what’s there, that is a good description of what’s there.”

Hogan goes on to mention that image descriptions are slightly different. “They are more public, and they appear at the bottom of the post. Sometimes they are more detailed. People tend to add more details to image descriptions than to alt text.” This is due to the limitations in word count for alt text.

Below are two different examples of image descriptions.

 

Image Description Example. A pale-skinned woman with blonde hair in a bun, wearing a skin coloured leotard. She has a black tree tattoo in between her shoulder blades. She is sitting in front of 3 vertical mirrors. Her mouth is slightly open and she is looking at her reflection in the left mirror. There is pink play-doh pressed into the centre mirror. There are blue, pink and white theatrical lights illuminating the woman against a black background.

 

Example of Detailed Image Description:
A pale-skinned woman with blonde hair in a bun, wearing a skin coloured leotard.
There is a black tree tattoo in between her shoulder blades.
She is sitting in front of 3 vertical mirrors.
Her mouth is slightly open, and she is looking at her reflection in the left mirror.
There is pink play-doh pressed into the centre mirror.
Blue, pink and white theatrical lights illuminate the woman against a black background.
This is a photograph taken during the performance of ‘Limits’ at Brand X.

Example of Simple Image Description:
Bonnie Curtis in ‘Limits’. She is sitting in front of 3 mirrors, looking at her reflection.


2. Captions and Subtitles

Adding captions and subtitles to videos has become a lot easier. Social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook offer automated options. These can be great but prone to mistakes (we’ve all seen them, even in high budget TV shows). Go through and check that all words are correct (and make sense).

 

Two men wearing Christmas themed clothing standing in between two Christmas trees decorated with baubles and tinsel. White Text reads: "read off the rent those reindeer"

 

Subtitles are purely written words of what a character is saying. Captions also include any relevant sounds such as romantic music, hysterical laughter, a car backfiring, and so on. These add much-needed context to what is being seen on screen. Where possible, add in these sounds if they are important to providing context to the visual image.

 

A fair skinned man with grey facial and head hair opening his mouth widely. Yellow text reads: “(screams in perfect pitch)”

 

3. Hashtags

Using capital letters in front of each new word in hashtags, i.e. #BonnieCurtisProjects, allows people using a screen reader to hear the words individually instead of one long word. It’s also easier to read in general.

#isitibeforeeorebeforei vs #IsItIBeforeEOrEBeforeI
This hashtag still isn’t the easiest thing to read, but it’s so much clearer to read.

 

List of sites for more info


experience accessible live performance

Experience Limits On-Demand.

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Bonnie Curtis in Limits. In a skin-coloured leotard bathed in pink and white lights, Bonnie is pushing a dark dresser covered in Barbie dolls.

About BCP

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