Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
15
↓
Making my cat's Twitter accessible to screen reader users (self.Blind)
submitted by cupcakeing
Hi everyone, a sighted person here
For over a year now, I've run a Twitter account where I pretend to be my cat. There's a whole community of accounts like this, everyone has their own approach to writing tweets, and mine is to use improper spelling and grammar, e.g. "I am" becomes "im am".
Some people have raised the issue that writing in the style that I do (which a lot of other accounts also use) can be difficult for screen reader users and people who don't natively speak English, so I've been thinking of making a second account that replies to all of my cat's tweets with what's in the tweet, except with proper spelling and grammar, e.g. "im am bread, am baking" becomes "I am bread and I'm baking".
The problem I have is whether I should change the phrasing of my cat's tweets when I "translate" them. I know that things can get garbled when you put them through Google Translate, so I wanted to rephrase things to be clearer so they don't get mixed up going from one language to another. I'd be communicating the same basic message, but in a way that prevents translation errors. However, I know there's an issue when, on YouTube for example, subtitles don't match the audio and deaf audiences are getting a different experience than hearing audiences, especially when subtitles are censored where the audio isn't or subtitles are treated like a joke. I don't know if this same issue exists when making media more accessible for blind people.
Basically, my question is: Is it okay to rephrase sentences when I'm trying to make hard-to-read tweets accessible for both screen reader users and people who aren't fluent in English, if the rephrasing is to help things not get lost in translation?
For over a year now, I've run a Twitter account where I pretend to be my cat. There's a whole community of accounts like this, everyone has their own approach to writing tweets, and mine is to use improper spelling and grammar, e.g. "I am" becomes "im am".
Some people have raised the issue that writing in the style that I do (which a lot of other accounts also use) can be difficult for screen reader users and people who don't natively speak English, so I've been thinking of making a second account that replies to all of my cat's tweets with what's in the tweet, except with proper spelling and grammar, e.g. "im am bread, am baking" becomes "I am bread and I'm baking".
The problem I have is whether I should change the phrasing of my cat's tweets when I "translate" them. I know that things can get garbled when you put them through Google Translate, so I wanted to rephrase things to be clearer so they don't get mixed up going from one language to another. I'd be communicating the same basic message, but in a way that prevents translation errors. However, I know there's an issue when, on YouTube for example, subtitles don't match the audio and deaf audiences are getting a different experience than hearing audiences, especially when subtitles are censored where the audio isn't or subtitles are treated like a joke. I don't know if this same issue exists when making media more accessible for blind people.
Basically, my question is: Is it okay to rephrase sentences when I'm trying to make hard-to-read tweets accessible for both screen reader users and people who aren't fluent in English, if the rephrasing is to help things not get lost in translation?
razzretina 3 points 3y ago
I can see this kind of thing maybe being difficult for people who are learning English, but it’s not an issue for a screen reader. If you were typing your cat’s tweets in L33T or something, yeah, that would be an issue, but this is just writing things in a funny way, which we can appreciate. Adding descriptions to your pictures is all you need to do for accessibility here.
cupcakeing [OP] 5 points 3y ago
My cat tends to misspell words and sometimes it's not so bad, like "boy" is "boyy", but sometimes it's like "bread" becoming "bbreb", and I know text-to-speech tech will spell out a word it doesn't know how to pronounce and it can get confusing, so I don't want people getting tired of trying to make heads or tails of these sentences that are half-nonsense
But thanks for letting me know that it's not super difficult to read weird cat tweets when you have a screen reader!!
But thanks for letting me know that it's not super difficult to read weird cat tweets when you have a screen reader!!
razzretina 8 points 3y ago
I just listened to this with a screen reader and got “boiyoi” and “bread” with those misspellins heh. Honestly you just can’t predict what screen readers will do with words and it varies depending on settings. Voiceover for iOS will frequently read out common abbreviations and do its best to pronounce things (mine even treats lgbtq as a pronouncable word, which is weird and it took me ages to figure out what “lubchuk” was). Personally, I’d rather read the original tweets. If someone who is disabled is asking you to make accessibility adjustments, by all means do what you can! But if you were just told to do this by a random person making assumptions about what we need, that’s more dehumanising and exclusionary than leaving the tweets as is. When people assume what we need and don’t ask, they often get it wrong (like changing spelling of words which would remove much of the comedy for us, but not describing images, which would be very useful and include us in the community). Hopefully that makes sense and doesn’t seem too harsh; I’m just using your tweets as an example because I can’t think of anything else at the moment, not because I think you’re doing any of this intentionally or otherwise. :)
cupcakeing [OP] 2 points 3y ago
In my experience of using text-to-speech, things can get weird when the software doesn't know what to do (e.g. if I were to write the letter A over and over to indicate screaming, the voice might read out every individual letter, or the computer in my mom's car can't say my name right just because it has a hyphen), so that's part of why I'm looking at making this "translator" account
And my intent would be to keep the actual tweets as they are, so it still looks like my cat is struggling to speak English and like he can't use a keyboard, but if you scroll down to the replies, there'll be another account explaining what's going on to anyone who might be confused
But thank you for reaching out and giving me your feedback!! :) My question was about if blind people/screen reader users reading the tweets would mind if I rephrased things when the kitty cat translator replied to the tweets, but since it seems to be fine for you guys, I guess I should just focus on people who aren't fluent in English??
And my intent would be to keep the actual tweets as they are, so it still looks like my cat is struggling to speak English and like he can't use a keyboard, but if you scroll down to the replies, there'll be another account explaining what's going on to anyone who might be confused
But thank you for reaching out and giving me your feedback!! :) My question was about if blind people/screen reader users reading the tweets would mind if I rephrased things when the kitty cat translator replied to the tweets, but since it seems to be fine for you guys, I guess I should just focus on people who aren't fluent in English??
razzretina 1 points 3y ago
Haha yep, I’ve run into the same thing with my own screen readers. XD
I say you should keep having fun above all else but if a translation account doesn’t impact that and makes you feel better, go for it! I only speak the one language so I definitely can’t speak for English learners. Maybe run a poll?
I say you should keep having fun above all else but if a translation account doesn’t impact that and makes you feel better, go for it! I only speak the one language so I definitely can’t speak for English learners. Maybe run a poll?
BabyBaphomet_ 5 points 3y ago
My screen reader surprisingly knows what "bbreb" is😂
bscross32 3 points 3y ago
I got to the point where I can just read texts from this one friend I have when he gets drunk and makes typos all over the place. I don't even have to stop anymore and go over it closer. This is one of those things where if you want to, you can figure it out.
​
I also roleplay on text based MUDs and sometimes you have players portray their characters' accents through writing, like this, "Yeh ta o'er day ah wa down ba da river 'n ya know ah catched me a trout near 'bout two foot long."
​
I also roleplay on text based MUDs and sometimes you have players portray their characters' accents through writing, like this, "Yeh ta o'er day ah wa down ba da river 'n ya know ah catched me a trout near 'bout two foot long."
BurnyAsn 1 points 3y ago
I just practised speaking this again and again and again and again and again and it got funnier each time. Great now I can surprise my friends.
BlueRock956 1 points 3y ago
I don't think we need translation from another account. With screen readers and Braille displays we can navigate the text and read what you tweet.
BlueRock956 1 points 3y ago
It may be easier to teach your cat how to spell.
BabyBaphomet_ 1 points 3y ago
Totally not an issue, you can continue as you are :) Blind people understand when something is written in a goofy way, as long as it's read as words. Not adding the apostrophe in contractions is also fine because the screen reader (at least mine) just pronounces it funny. Like "arent" is read like "air-ent" instead of "aren't". Stuff like that. I'm sure your Twitter is perfectly accessible!
cupcakeing [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Oh yeah, I totally get that it will usually be as understandable hearing it from a text-to-speech program as it is looking at it as a sighted person, but I know there could be very rare times where it spells it out letter-by-letter and a person get confused hearing it. Like, when it comes to this I keep thinking of Molly Burke's "shopping online as a blind person" series and in her video where she makes custom Converse, she had to have her assistant tell her that "S Z N" means "season". Again, this is an unusual instance but I still want anyone, sighted or blind, really, to be able to scroll down and get clarification any time they're confused about a tweet.
My main question was relating to when subtitles don't match audio and deaf people are getting a difference experience than hearing people, if there's an equivalent for blind people and if I were to make the original tweet and the "cat translator" say slightly different things. Do you have an opinion on this?
And thank you for your response!!
My main question was relating to when subtitles don't match audio and deaf people are getting a difference experience than hearing people, if there's an equivalent for blind people and if I were to make the original tweet and the "cat translator" say slightly different things. Do you have an opinion on this?
And thank you for your response!!
SecTrono 1 points 3y ago
**short answer:** you can find an online text-to-speech engines that you can test your tweets in. it will give you a good idea of how a person who is completely blind would experience your tweets. i am guessing that a lot of your cat character is about spelling things out phonetically so that would transfer well to a text-to-speech engine.
-
**long answer:** what you are doing is a sort of art. its very difficult to take any given art-form and then make it accessible to all. you can't make music accessible to all deaf people. you can't make paintings accessible to all blind people. you can't make gourmet food completely accessible to people without a sense of taste. i think you see where i am going with this.
-
if you do want to make art extremely accessible you have to keep that in mind from the conception of the project. its much more difficult to take existing art and make it accessible after the fact. if you really want to make your work accessible you will have to completely rebuild your twitter character from scratch.
-
the good news is that its ok to create art that isn't accessible to every single person. singers shouldn't feel responsible to make their music accessible to the deaf. a chef shouldn't feel the need to make their food accessible to people that can't taste. these would be impossible tasks. yes, they should try to consider what they can do to make their art more accessible but its ok if what they practice isn't for everyone.
-
art is a personal thing. it doesn't need to be appreciated by everyone. blind people will find other pieces of art to stimulate them if they can't appreciate what you are doing. accessibility is more about making sure that people with disabilities can get access to the things they need to be functional adults. so a creative tweet about a cat doesn't need to be accessible. a tweet about a job posting or a weather alert on the other hand must be accessible.
-
the people that are giving you a hard time on twitter probably aren't even blind or disabled. they are just a bunch of shitty people that are trying to mess with you and feel moral superiority. go ahead and tell them to get stuffed. then go back to creating your art the way you are comfortable with.
-
**long answer:** what you are doing is a sort of art. its very difficult to take any given art-form and then make it accessible to all. you can't make music accessible to all deaf people. you can't make paintings accessible to all blind people. you can't make gourmet food completely accessible to people without a sense of taste. i think you see where i am going with this.
-
if you do want to make art extremely accessible you have to keep that in mind from the conception of the project. its much more difficult to take existing art and make it accessible after the fact. if you really want to make your work accessible you will have to completely rebuild your twitter character from scratch.
-
the good news is that its ok to create art that isn't accessible to every single person. singers shouldn't feel responsible to make their music accessible to the deaf. a chef shouldn't feel the need to make their food accessible to people that can't taste. these would be impossible tasks. yes, they should try to consider what they can do to make their art more accessible but its ok if what they practice isn't for everyone.
-
art is a personal thing. it doesn't need to be appreciated by everyone. blind people will find other pieces of art to stimulate them if they can't appreciate what you are doing. accessibility is more about making sure that people with disabilities can get access to the things they need to be functional adults. so a creative tweet about a cat doesn't need to be accessible. a tweet about a job posting or a weather alert on the other hand must be accessible.
-
the people that are giving you a hard time on twitter probably aren't even blind or disabled. they are just a bunch of shitty people that are trying to mess with you and feel moral superiority. go ahead and tell them to get stuffed. then go back to creating your art the way you are comfortable with.
cupcakeing [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Nobody's coming after me specifically and telling me to change stuff about my cat's Twitter, no worries!! There's just been some general discussions among the humans behind the accounts about how certain writing styles can be hard to read or understand for some people, and what we could do about it (e.g. one account is very slowly transitioning to make the tweets less garbled so they're easier to understand, but nobody really notices it's happening).
My personal solution I thought up that I'm hoping to implement is this sort of "cat translator" account since I make cat tweets infrequently enough that I feel I can keep up with "translating" all of them.
It would mainly be for people who don't understand English well enough to know that "bbreb" means "bread", and I'm thinking of slightly rephrasing sentences if need be since I know as someone who grew up with French as a second language, things can get a little weird going from one language to another (e.g. "it costs an arm and a leg" in English becomes "it costs the eyes of the head" in French) and I'd be changing words that I think would get mixed up in translation for some languages.
I know there is a very rare chance of a blind person getting confused about one of my garbled words and one of those words just so happening to be a word I changed with the "cat translator" tweet, but I still think about it. I keep thinking about how, when subtitles and audio don't match up, deaf audiences can get a different experience than hearing audiences. My main question is about if there's some sort of equivalent problem when making things accessible to blind people. Do you have any sort of opinion on this??
And thank you for responding and giving me your thoughts!!
My personal solution I thought up that I'm hoping to implement is this sort of "cat translator" account since I make cat tweets infrequently enough that I feel I can keep up with "translating" all of them.
It would mainly be for people who don't understand English well enough to know that "bbreb" means "bread", and I'm thinking of slightly rephrasing sentences if need be since I know as someone who grew up with French as a second language, things can get a little weird going from one language to another (e.g. "it costs an arm and a leg" in English becomes "it costs the eyes of the head" in French) and I'd be changing words that I think would get mixed up in translation for some languages.
I know there is a very rare chance of a blind person getting confused about one of my garbled words and one of those words just so happening to be a word I changed with the "cat translator" tweet, but I still think about it. I keep thinking about how, when subtitles and audio don't match up, deaf audiences can get a different experience than hearing audiences. My main question is about if there's some sort of equivalent problem when making things accessible to blind people. Do you have any sort of opinion on this??
And thank you for responding and giving me your thoughts!!
bscross32 1 points 3y ago
I think this can work as is. Though for non-english peeps, you may have something. It's not an issue reading that. You could add descriptions to pics you post though.
cupcakeing [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I have recently started adding alt text to my cat's posts!! Though I wish Twitter was more like Instagram in that you can go back and add alt text to previous posts
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts :)
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts :)
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.