Alternative text for headshots: should we mention skin color?

On By dhrutibcIn AccessibilityLeave a comment

If you’re coming to this post for a quick answer, then my answer is yes, you should mention skin color in your alternative (alt) text.

I’ve seen people debate this online, but for me the answer is clear. The concern most people have with including it is that it can get really tricky to describe someone’s skin color or race. The problem is that in our society, a lack of skin color or race identifier means that the person is by default, a white caucasian person.

Representation does matter, even to those who may be visually impaired. Keep in mind that alternative text is used for many things. For example, if an image doesn’t load, the alternative text will display.

To avoid some of the tricky pitfalls around describing someone’s skin color or race, use this guideline:

If you are not 100% sure of the race/ethnicity of the person in the photo, do not make assumptions. Instead, use neutral descriptors of color.

Here are some examples to help illustrate this guideline with this photo of me:

Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with light beige skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? This does not include any descriptors of my identity as a person of color

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person of middle eastern descent, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? This is an assumption about my race/ethnicity, and it is incorrect

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with cashew-colored skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? Using food as a descriptor for people’s skin color can make people uncomfortable. Given histories of oppression for people of color, describing them as something you might eat can make people feel like you view them as less than human.

Do not use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with sand-colored skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

Why? Using non-food objects to describe a person’s skin can still make them feel uncomfortable. Being described in comparison to an object other people know can make me feel like my skin color is so foreign to them, that they can only describe me by using another object. But, that’s not true. We have regular colors we can use.

Do use: Headshot of Dhruti Bhagat-Conway, a person with light beige skin, from the shoulders up, smiling, in a sweater and glasses, with shoulder-length black wavy hair

To help you, this is my proposed scale of words to use to describe a skin color from lightest to darkest:

Pale, beige, tawny, tan, brown, with lots of qualifiers to help distinguish between shades. For example, light beige, pale pink, dark brown, medium tan, etc. Of course, colors are subjective, and I’m not expecting everyone to agree on what exactly dark brown looks like versus very dark brown. But, the goal here is to illustrate for the reader and give them a general sense of who you are describing.

Even though this post is about using skin color, I will add that making gender assumptions is not a good idea. If you know that person’s preferred gender, use it, otherwise, stick with gender-neutral language.

Jan 2022 Update: 2021 was a lot

On By dhrutibcIn What I'm Working OnLeave a comment

So, I haven’t posted anything in about a year. It’s not uncommon given the state of the world, but I wanted to give a little update anyway. I am working on one last article in the accessibility in academic research series.

This past year was pretty hard, as it was for just about everyone. During the past year, I was frantically trying to find a new job because my now-husband (another thing that changed this past year) got a professor job in another region of the country. My old job wouldn’t let me live outside of Boston city limits. Anyway, I found a new job, got married, moved to another region of the country, and started a new job. Additionally, I became a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). I joined the board of a library user experience journal. You may also notice I changed my last name too. All of this is to say that a lot happened in the past year and that’s why I never finished the series.

However, it’s on my list of things to get to. In my new position, I’ve been learning a lot. I’ve been learning more about document accessibility and using screen readers for testing. I also know that I will be learning a lot about user experience research and discovery systems so you can likely expect more posts about those topics in the future.

Hope to share more content soon!

Accessibility in Academic Research: Alternative Text for Images and Non-text Items

On By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

This series focuses on a few main problems with accessibility in academic research, but by no means are they they only ones. My last post covered problems concerning graphs and how we can improve them to be more accessible to color blind individuals. If you’re curious about other accessibility considerations, take a look at Anne Gibson’s Alphabet of Accessibility on the Pastry Box Project; it’s fantastic.

Images, graphs and other non-text items in research

As I mentioned in my previous post, lots of scholarly research relies of graphs and charts to represent data and results. Additionally, researchers use images and other non-text items (such as equations) in research. However, without proper alternative text, these visual representations are meaningless to users with certain visual impairments.

Continue reading “Accessibility in Academic Research: Alternative Text for Images and Non-text Items” →

What does Reading Level have to do with Racism and Equity?

On By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

As the Web Services Librarian, I play an important role in determining the standards for content on the Boston Public Library website. The blogs are some of the most important content I oversee. They’re important because they let library workers talk about things they and their patrons care about. I think that connection to the public is special and needs to be protected.

As a part of the annual training bloggers go through, I remind them to keep their posts to a 10th grade reading level or below (ideally 8th grade). The few exceptions are on a case-by-case basis. However, staff members come back to me and say that the requirement is too restrictive, and what’s the big deal anyway?

When you don’t consider the reading level of your content, you are shutting out people who don’t read at the same level as you. Those people will most likely include, but are not limited to:

  • People of color
  • People who are poor
  • People with learning disabilities
  • People who don’t speak English as their first language

TL;DR: The reading level of your content is a racism and equity issue. If you’re not thinking about the reading levels of your content, you are preventing large groups of disadvantaged people from reading it. About half of adults in the U.S. do not read above an eighth grade reading level, and you are excluding them. Use hemingwayapp.com to help you reduce the reading level of your content.

Continue reading “What does Reading Level have to do with Racism and Equity?” →
A bell curve graph that has a color legend on the top right, and uses color to differentiate five sections of the bell curve. This graph's colors will pass the color blindness filter tests.

Accessibility in Academic Research: Using Color

On By dhrutibcIn User ExperienceLeave a comment

So my fiancé is a PhD student. That fact is only relevant in that it’s my main source of information about processes at various academic institutions. While he is a student and works for only one university, he is on projects with other universities, and regularly reviews papers for journals.

There are times he shows me or tells me about websites, surveys, graphs, or practices that clearly violate current accessibility standards. At times he has mentioned this to the people in charge of these items and he frequently gets the response along the lines of “I don’t think people with visual impairments will use this.”

As someone who strives to ensure accessibility practices are followed, this response makes me frustrated. But, rather than having this be a series with me venting about these transgressions, I’d like to take this time to give a brief overview on how academic faculty and staff (or other researchers) can build accessibility practices into their workflow and why they should.

This series is going to focus on a few main problems with accessibility in academic research, but by no means are they they only ones. If you’re curious about other accessibility considerations, take a look at Anne Gibson’s Alphabet of Accessibility on the Pastry Box Project; it’s fantastic.

Continue reading “Accessibility in Academic Research: Using Color” →