Instagram is a visual social networking tool, but not all Instagram users can enjoy the platform’s features equally. Instagram can be a fantastic site filled with loved ones and camaraderie. It may appear simpler to assume that persons with vision impairments do not use the highly visual platform, but this is not the case. Instagram is not as accessible to people with disabilities as it should be due to a lack of accessible material and disability-friendly profiles.
Make Instagram Account Procure for Users
Having an accessible Instagram account may serve several purposes. Besides being disability-friendly, the accessibility of your account may increase your engagement with your profile and enhance the feeling of community. Straightforward methods require minimal effort or time to make your Instagram posts accessible. Accessibility is equally important in the digital environment, particularly for those who have hearing or vision impairments.
Creating a sense of belonging among individuals of varying abilities is essential to fostering accessibility. All stakeholders are essential when developing a brand or company in today’s social and digital environment. Refuse this from occurring on your Instagram account by anticipating the issue and becoming the change you wish to see in the world.
The Instagram platform is primarily visual. This makes navigation more difficult for visually impaired individuals. Your company can make some simple adjustments to your Instagram content to make it more accessible and inclusive. These changes will not cost you anything. The following techniques are useful in making your Instagram account more accessible so that more people can see, interact with, and appreciate your posts.
Videos & Stories Enrich with Subtitles
Those who wish to watch videos without sound benefit from subtitles. However, subtitles are not just useful for that purpose. They are also vital to enhancing accessibility for those who are hearing impaired. Hearing loss may cause a person to feel excluded and neglected when unable to hear the material. Therefore, subtitles may contribute significantly to social media accessibility, particularly for video and audio material.
A new accessibility feature has been developed by the social media network that automatically adds subtitles to IGTV videos. The feature is translated into sixteen languages. Threads is a software application created by Instagram which allows you to stay up to date with your close friends on the platform. Additionally, it provides automatic captioning for any video recorded that is recorded.
Decorative Fonts are Less Supportive for Readers
As a result of stylized and ornate typefaces, screen readers have a difficult time processing them. Screen readers search for legibility. A beautiful font may enhance the visual appeal of your website, but it is completely inaccessible to visually impaired users. Either the screen reader will ignore these stylized words and read what you have typed in the default font, or it will emit a stream of completely unreasonable noises. Essentially, if you use ornamental typefaces in your article, you risk losing significance. The screen reader will either misunderstand your whole message or ignore it entirely. If accessibility is essential, you should avoid using ornamental typefaces altogether.
Effective Use of Hashtags
Hashtags are among the most effective strategies to increase engagement on Instagram. They play a crucial role in facilitating the discovery of posts and profiles. Capitalizing each word in an Instagram hashtag increases the accessibility of your post for the blind population. Screen readers can only read your hashtags correctly if they are capitalized appropriately. As a result, the screen reader recognizes and reads the hashtag as one big word when it is not capitalized.
Similarly, you may make your hashtags more accessible by placing them in the comments of your post rather than combining them with your description. Although this is a controversial idea, it will make your Instagram followers much more accessible. If you employ a maximum of 30 hashtags, this advice suits you.Screen readers spend less time on a single post when hashtags are added to the comments instead of captions. While screen readers do not recognize hashtags in comments, Instagram recognizes them, allowing users to read all your hashtags.
Captions Include Description to Entice Followers
It was an excellent opportunity for Instagram users concerned about accessibility to include the differently-abled before the advent of alt-text and auto-generated subtitles. As a result, you may wish to place the description of your article after the caption, followed by accessibility. Although this suggestion may be useless if you also choose to add alternative text on Instagram, it is nonetheless worthwhile. The captions provide a written explanation for individuals who do not use a screen reader due to difficulties processing information.
The addition of alt-text to video posts on Instagram is not yet permitted. Therefore, including a description of your video in the caption may help to make it most accessible to screen readers. Instagram may be a fantastic community if everyone can access and use it. In addition to discovering your audience and pursuing your specific interests, Instagram is a fantastic platform. Making Instagram more accessible allows individuals to discover our community more easily.
These simple adjustments can significantly impact individuals with visual or auditory impairments. These activities are completely free and make a significant difference to those who cannot interact with internet information in another way. A more accessible Instagram profile may foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all company users.
