Accessiblity in Kpop
In the last two or so months I started doing image descriptions on my Atla sideblog. I started to do them on this blog, which is my main, not so long ago and I very quickly noticed that there’s no such thing as accessibility in Kpop spaces. I mean it. No one does image descriptions, no one does video transcripts, no one even looks for them. And that makes it a very unaccessible place for people who use screen readers, for those who have hearing issues or for people who may need help with processing what’s happening in images or videos. So I’m asking you all to try to make this space more accessible. And I hope this post helps you in learning how to do that.
Why Write Image Descriptions?
- they help blind people or those who are visiually-impaired
- they help people who have trouble recognizing faces or facial expressions
- they help those who find it difficult to understand what is happening in the photo
- they also help people with poor internet connection for who the images just don’t load
- they help draw attention to the important parts of the photo or to explain petentially confusing parts of it
How Do I Write Them?
- Identify for yourself the most important elements (what context is needed to undertand it, how would you describe it over the phone)
- include the format of the image (screenshot of a tweet or post, comic panel, digital drawing, gifset of a performance, photograph, selfie, video, chart, etc.)
- describe the subject of the image and their surroundings (a person laying on a floor covered in a white sheet, a group of people standing on a beach)
- transcript any important text, even the most clear one since it can’t be read by a screen reader
- include basic crediting or sourcing (twitter handle, vlive, which video it is from (if you know that ofc))
- keep in mind that if it can be dragged it can’t be read by a screen reader
- don’t assume gender, race or pronouns (include them if you’re certain that they’re correct based on other knowledge or if it’s mentioned in the image itself)
Other Important Things
- don’t put the image descriptions under readmores (it puts the burden on disabled people to click on the person’s blog to have the access and makes it more difficult than it needs to be, if you change url or delete your blog it makes the link inaccessible)
- don’t put them at the end of a post, especially if there’s text between each image (put them first, before any caption or comment so that people that need them have the context before they reach the additional text)
- don’t put them in tiny/ italicized font as those can cause eyestrain or headaches
- don’t space our letters for aesthetic and don’t use fancy fonts as some of them won’t even render for mobile
- do not delete image descriptions (your aesthetic is not as important as accessibility)
- check notes for IDs (there’s a chance that someone already did it, reblog from them if that’s the case or make your own if there’s none)
- if you’re a content creator and you’re not sure how to write one reach out to someone who does them, believe me when i say that we would rather do it for you before you post it than have to do it anyway after the post already gets most of it’s notes
- if someone adds an ID to your gifset/ art/ edit it would be great if you reblogged that version so it reaches more people
Other Resources
- basic guide to image descriptions
- very good examples of IDs
- specific examples of different formats
- more tips and info
- few blogs that are doing IDs and/ or have lists of rescources: @a-captions-blog @accessibleaesthetics @audio-video-transcripts @better-image-descriptions @keplercryptids
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them but keep in mind I only started doing this recently. I’m also completely okay with you messaging me if you need an ID made for your gifset/ art/ edit. Please reblog this post so that it reaches as many people as possible.
