Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How do blind users know about the ad for /r/Blind if they can't see it? (self.Blind)
submitted by AnotherSmegHead
buymetwodrinks 10 points 6y ago
Normally the alt attribute should be set in the html code to provide text as an alternative for blind people. However, I was disappointed to see that the alt attribute was not set for the image in the ad. Perhaps Reddit does not enable changing those attributes in the ad. I'm not sure.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
AnotherSmegHead [OP] 8 points 6y ago
/u/spez Sorry to bother you if you're busy. Care to weigh in on this? Is the alt-text set for the ad for /r/blind so that the audio reader actually reads it off?
fastfinge 6 points 6y ago
Nope. Reddit doesn't support alt-text on ads, or in the image uploader either. But then, that puts them in good company; the only social network that does is Twitter, and even they turn support for adding alt text off by default, and hide it away in settings.
Well, OK, Dreamwidth also supports alt text. But does anyone use them for anything?
Well, OK, Dreamwidth also supports alt text. But does anyone use them for anything?
AnotherSmegHead [OP] 3 points 6y ago
I have never even heard of them.
fastfinge 3 points 6y ago
They're a clone of Live Journal, even based on the same code. So that should give you some idea how relevant they are. LOL
fastfinge 8 points 6y ago
Advertising to blind people directly is extremely challenging in today's online environment. Ads are often completely inaccessible themselves, but worse, advertising often makes an otherwise accessible site inaccessible thanks to autoplaying sounds and pop-ups and bouncing flash ads and so on. That means that second to a screenreader, an ad blocker is the most important accessibility tool for many fully blind people. So even if the Reddit ad had alt text, it's quite unlikely that many screenreader users would encounter it, because they're already blocking ads. If I was trying to advertise to blind people directly, the best option would be to buy podcast ads on specialty podcasts like Blind Bargains, Cool Blind Tech, and others. Not only are podcast ads fully accessible (they're just audio), ad blockers can't block them.
October is Blindness Awareness month, so our purpose with the sidebar ads is to raise awareness that blind people are online, we can use Reddit, and so-on. Just read any Ask Reddit thread about blind people, and it'll become obvious that this is awareness that still needs raising. So I wouldn't say that this ad is targeted at blind users.
As we at /r/blind can't spend money on podcast ads, we rely on word of mouth to spread through the blind community. So if you have any blind friends who use Reddit, or might enjoy using Reddit and didn't know they could, let them know about us! We have an FAQ for blind readers, and we're happy to help new blind users learn the Reddit ropes.
October is Blindness Awareness month, so our purpose with the sidebar ads is to raise awareness that blind people are online, we can use Reddit, and so-on. Just read any Ask Reddit thread about blind people, and it'll become obvious that this is awareness that still needs raising. So I wouldn't say that this ad is targeted at blind users.
As we at /r/blind can't spend money on podcast ads, we rely on word of mouth to spread through the blind community. So if you have any blind friends who use Reddit, or might enjoy using Reddit and didn't know they could, let them know about us! We have an FAQ for blind readers, and we're happy to help new blind users learn the Reddit ropes.
mirhagk 4 points 6y ago
Came here from the ad, and I really appreciate learning about this. It's one of things you overlook and I'm constantly surprised at how much someone who is blind can accomplish.
The world in general needs to learn about how someone who is blind can still interact with and use computers extremely well. At my last job (software development) they had a candidate apply who was blind. It wasn't known until the interview and people were kinda shocked by the prospect of it. Somebody who doesn't understand the tools available for a blind person immediately gets a "um.... are you sure that they can even do the job?" response, which is totally incorrect because by every single metric he was the best candidate, and it'd require only minimal amount of effort for the organization to support them (basically would just need someone else to help them review the training documentation which was all scanned PDFs)
The world in general needs to learn about how someone who is blind can still interact with and use computers extremely well. At my last job (software development) they had a candidate apply who was blind. It wasn't known until the interview and people were kinda shocked by the prospect of it. Somebody who doesn't understand the tools available for a blind person immediately gets a "um.... are you sure that they can even do the job?" response, which is totally incorrect because by every single metric he was the best candidate, and it'd require only minimal amount of effort for the organization to support them (basically would just need someone else to help them review the training documentation which was all scanned PDFs)
claudettemonet 3 points 6y ago
Absolutely true. Especially that last part. This is one of the friendliest and most helpful sub reddits I have ever encountered, and I have reddited for a long time.
awesomesaucesaywhat 1 points 6y ago
Is the ad just going to run for October? The posts on the sub have changed since more people have been seeing the ad. I'm glad people are having their questions answered and learning about blindness and vision but the sub seems like less of a resource for the blind/vi now and more of an educational sub.
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
My understanding is that free Reddit ads only run for a single month, yes. October is blindness awareness month, so as far as I know the ads will no longer run after halloween.
TotesMessenger 2 points 6y ago
Unuhi 1 points 6y ago
There's an ad? Never seen that one.
Also never seen the sidebar.
I know what an ad and a sidebars usually look like usually (unless they have changed radically in the past 3 years).
Also never seen the sidebar.
I know what an ad and a sidebars usually look like usually (unless they have changed radically in the past 3 years).
[deleted] 1 points 6y ago
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