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I'm seeing a lot of proclamations that there should be no exceptions to describing your images or that there's no reason to interact with any that aren't described.

I know these mean well, but they are themselves ableist.

Disabled people know that access needs can clash. I benefit from described images, but I know some people struggle to write them because of their own disabilities.

And that's okay! The culture of image descriptions is great here but it should never be absolutist.

I challenged someone on their hardline stance on this once, and it blew up into a tiny fedi drama, with the nice outcome of more social solutions.

That's around the time people started to CW undescribed images.

My instance developed an emoji :help_describe: to indicate you'd like a media description added.

There's a group you can tag, @imagecaptionspls, that people follow who are willing to add descriptions.

And there's @PleaseCaption to remind you if you forget.

Please describe:

* your jokes/memes - it's no good saying "this is just silly, you're not missing anything"; let us be the judge of that! Also, being disabled isn't about being dull and worthy all the time.

* your artwork - I'm so sad when I see cool art I can't boost (and sometimes can't even discern :) )

* your gifs and videos - description isn't just for still images!

* your audio clips - yep, these can be described too!

Sebastian Lasse

@bright_helpings

about “describing your images”:
In the ActivityPub forum, there is also a thread about writing a formal Fediverse Enhancement Proposal.
This goes then to all the implementors, developers, writers of ActivityPub software.

weex started it there and said:
“When media such as images and video are uploaded and shared without captions, it excludes the visually impaired from knowing what the content is.

To address this, some user interfaces highlight such media so that people can be more easily made aware of this deficiency in what they may share. People can then reply to ask for a captioned repost, or decide whether they want to share or otherwise engage with such content.”

I have added this thread there too, the Link is socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/

/ @aral

SocialHubWould Media captioning make a good FEP?When media such as images and video are uploaded and shared without captions, it excludes the visually impaired from knowing what the content is. To address this, some user interfaces highlight such media so that people can be more easily made aware of this deficiency in what they may share. People can then reply to ask for a captioned repost, or decide whether they want to share or otherwise engage with such content. The question is, would formalization of captioning make sense as a FEP? This...

@sl007 @bright_helpings @aral When I upload pictures I add descriptions. However I am not sure whether I do things right, because I fall to notice the descriptions after uploading them.

@alternative_be I can’t see them on your photos. Which interface are you using to post? Web? App?

@aral Mastodon app on iOS 15.4 iPad 2019 and iPhone 8

@alternative_be @aral

apparently the descriptions on the official mobile apps only work with a screenreader (they don't show on the app!). They are however showing on other apps or desktop/laptop...

@alternative_be @sl007 @bright_helpings @aral I think there's a bug. I enter alt text, save etc, only to have it not be visible after I have posted the image.

@aral @ZAGrrl @bright_helpings @sl007 It is visible on Android and to people who use screenr readers.

@alternative_be @aral @bright_helpings @sl007 Good to know. For some reason I can't see any of my alt text on my phone.