askablindperson

[askablindperson]

Hello 👋, hope you are well. Is it okay to ask you for writing tips on someone with low vision?

Hi! Absolutely it is. I will warn you in advance that I have not been on Tumblr nearly as frequently as I used to be, so my inbox is a bit of a sad thing at the moment, and there is a good chance that I may not get to it for a while. But you are more than welcome to send in questions.

[askablindperson]

/Question: I tend to use several languages, (several non-Latin alphabet languages), and i was wondering how screen readers work with them (like what happens if it meets a Chinese/Japanese character? What about a heavy diacritic language like Vietnamese? What if it meets French, will it read it like its English etc;)

If making image descriptions and my intentions are "I'm going to use my own language in this piece of art, and my viewers aren't supposed to know what I drew here", how should I go about doing it, so that I don't have to translate it into English while still being accessible?

Hi! These are great questions. Thank you for asking.

So most screen readers have a setting that can be toggled called “automatic language detection“ or similar. As the name implies, turning the setting on will mean that your screen reader will do its best to automatically detect language changes and read them in that language.

However, this happens with varying degrees of success. With other languages that use the Roman alphabet, this is quite tricky, and whether it will get the language right can be hit or miss. I once was taking a psychology exam in college where the screen reader insisted that segments of the document were supposed to be read in French when they were very much in English. Most of the time though, because guessing the language in the Roman alphabet can be dicey, the screen reader will usually default to reading it in whatever language the user currently has the screen reader set to. So most of the time when I encounter Spanish or French online, my screen reader will generally try to pronounce it like English because I have mindset to English.

For this reason, most of the time if a blind person is intentionally trying to read a different language in the Roman alphabet, they will switch voice profiles to one specifically designed for the second language They are switching to and toggle back-and-forth as needed. A number of bilingual blind people will have shortcuts set up for this so they can switch quickly and easily. There are ways to make it more seamless with Roman alphabet based languages, but usually this involves marking up/tagging for the language, which is something you can do in a document but not so easily on social media. I don’t know too much about how that process works though since I don’t personally read any other Roman alphabet based languages and I am also admittedly not that knowledgeable about the technical weeds.

However, for character based languages or languages that use a different alphabet in general, automatic language detection is usually much more successful. On my iPhone using voiceover, I tend to keep this feature turned on, because it does a pretty good job of Never switching when it’s not supposed to with the Roman alphabet And switching pretty seamlessly when encountering languages that do not use the Roman alphabet. Most of the time, I can read one sentence in English and the next sentence in Japanese without much issue.

Although, with Japanese in particular, it can be hit or miss whether the screen reader will interpret a kanji as Chinese or Japanese, so if I’m deliberately trying to read Japanese specifically or I encounter Japanese text online that I want to read better, I will switch to the Japanese voice profile to manually flip it over to full Japanese. I have my preferred Japanese voice profile set up as a shortcut so I can easily switch quickly when I want to without going all the way into settings.

As for how you should handle these image descriptions, the best practice for this is usually the same best practice for captions: if a non-disabled person who knows the language would be able to read it, then the disabled person who knows the language should also be able to read it, so your image description should include the text in the language that it is written in the image. If the text on the image isn’t also translated into English, then the text in the image description shouldn’t be translated into English either. This means that only blind people who also know the language in the image will be able to read it, just like how only sighted people who know the language will be able to read it in the image.

And, if a blind person reading that image description does know that language, if their screen reader doesn’t do a good job of automatically language switching to pronounce the words correctly, then they as the user can change their voice profile to the language in question, so I wouldn’t worry too much about whether it’ll be readable. As long as it is still in plane text, a blind person who knows that language should be able to read it if they want to.

I hope this helps! That is a very great question.

[askablindperson]

Hi. I just wanted to add a couple points of clarification here:

1. Long white canes are not typically held at chest level, at least not while they’re in use. If you are actively walking with a white cane, standard technique is to hold it so that the top of the handle points at your stomach just below the belly button. If the person is standing still and has pulled their cane up out of the way to stand with them, then yes, their hand might be holding it higher up at chest level Ish, or if they are using it in pencil grip which is used in crowded spaces. But typically, a white cane that’s fully extended is going to be held much closer to waste level.

This does mean however that if this staff has a flower at the top where a handle would normally be, that would pretty significantly impede a person‘s ability to use it as a proper white cane extended in front of them, because there wouldn’t be a very good place to put your hand. I am blind of course, so I cannot look up any kind of reference photos of this character to know if there is an additional segment of the staff extending above the flower that could be used as a handle, but if it is genuinely shaped like a flower with petals on top, I cannot imagine they’re being a handle at the top which would make it pretty darn unlikely to use as a white cane.

2. Before it spreads too far, I did also want to provide one correction that the colors of a white cane in the overwhelming majority of cases do not have any indication on level of vision. There is I believe one South American country that recently recognized green canes to mean low vision, but in most other places, there is no color difference between canes used by the totally blind and those used by blind people with residual vision. This is unfortunately a rather pervasive myth that has been spread by online articles without quoting any sources, as well as a handful of notable blind creators Who are not fact checking their videos, but it is very much not true particularly in North America. Whether your cane is solid white or has a red end is largely just based on which brand you purchased from, as some brands are solid white and some brands have a red end, but it has no meaning. So as a heads up to anyone reading, please don’t make any assumptions on a blind person‘s level of vision based on whether or not their cane includes Red along with the White.

Otherwise, the info provided here is very good food for thought that I agree with. Based on the written description of this staff here, I would probably also find it fairly impractical as a white cane.

I am writing a fanfic about a character known as pure vanilla cookie from a cookie run game who is implied to be visually impaired/blind. And may I ask if it is okay if I write her flower wand as a cane. While the character is still visually impaired, but using the staff as a sort of cane and removing the whole 'fixing disability trope' and i've been wondering if it okay to use the flower staff as cane?

Hello, thank you for your ask!

Note: I myself am not blind but I did talk with another mod about the ask. If any of our blind/visually impaired followers want to chime in feel free! Also I don't know a lot about Cookie Run lore, so sorry if i get something wrong because I'm going off of images of the character.

I think it's great to change a canonically disabled character so they experience their disability rather than getting magically cured, however looking at photos of the staff there are some things about it that would need to change, and some things you should consider.

I think the main issue with using their wand as a cane would be the flower on top. Real world canes are held at chest level for long canes and waist level for shorter guide canes, and I'd imagine having a large, bulky flower on top would make it harder to handle. If the flower were to be able to move out of the way or shrink it might be easier to use.

The staff is also much taller than a white cane. Long canes are typically a bit taller than shoulder level, while Pure Vanilla Cookie's staff seems to reach well over their head. This would make it difficult to use unless it can shrink.

The bottom of the cane looks curved, similar to a bundu basher tip (although actual bundu bashers have angles instead of being completely rounded), which are ment for traveling in unpaved, natural areas. This type of tip would make sense for a character that's in nature a lot, but not for a character that lives in a well paved city. I'd recommend looking up cane tips and what they're used for depending on where Pure Vanilla Cookie lives. Cane tips also get worn after a lot of use, so unless the staff can regrow its tip it's going to need to be able to be taken off and be changed.

Another thing to consider is the cane's color. Most white canes are white with a red bottom (some countries have standardized other colors such as a green bottom or a complete white cane for different levels of blindness), this helps signal to other people that the person is blind. Signaling blindness can be useful in situations such as a driver knowing a blind person is at the crosswalk and they might start walking before the light changes, it lets other people know to be more careful. This is also why identification canes (or id canes) exist, they're canes that don't help with navigation but instead let other people know that while they do have remaining vision they're still blind.

If you wanted to make the staff a cane you'd have to change a lot about it, or give Pure Vanilla Cookie both the staff as well as a white cane (or a guide dog/animal [if they don't have dogs in CR] or a guide).

I'd also recommend looking through our #white canes and #blindness tags, as well as blogs focused on blind characters such as blindbeta! Feel free to ask again if you have any more specific questions about portraying a blind person or tropes.

Have a lovely day!

Mod Rot

[askablindperson]

What is happening with section 504? And what you can do about it? Section 504 is under attack. If you live in any of these states, you can call your representatives.

DISABILITY INJUSTICE AFFECTS EVERYONE. You shouldn’t care “just because” you could be disabled one day. You should care *now*, because this will come back to everyone.

Images from @/myelasticheart on Instagram

[askablindperson]

I am so glad we are finally talking about this as a community, because the ramifications of it are massive. Section 504 Affects Way more than just schools, and this lawsuit aims to strip away one of the most fundamental backbones of disability rights we have in the US.

Hopefully others can add more advice, but here is the advice that’s been recommended by the National Federation of the Blind on what to do about this:

“Dear Federation Members,

A number of you have asked about the below matter. The National Federation of the Blind is deeply concerned about the Texas v. Becerra case that has been brought by seventeen states’ attorney generals. These seventeen states (Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia) have sued the federal government regarding updated rules which add “gender dysphoria” to the federal definition of “disability” under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As a result, these states have charged that this addition to the regulations renders Section 504 unconstitutional. As a reminder, Section 504 requires that entities which receive federal funding, like schools and hospitals, cannot discriminate on the basis of disability.

Fortunately, we are not alone in our concerns. Other organizations, such as the National Disability Rights Network, the National Council on Independent Living, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and many, many more have also voiced their displeasure with this lawsuit.

You can help in this cause! If you live in one of the states listed above, you can contact your state’s attorney general and/or the Governor and ask that the state drop the lawsuit. Be sure to tell them who you are and why Section 504 is important to you so they can fully understand the gravity of the situation. Remind them that Section 504 protects blind and other disabled people from discrimination by entities that receive federal funds. We are carefully monitoring this situation and will keep everyone advised of any new developments.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Riccobono, President”

Obviously this advice is being delivered specifically in the context of blind people with an a blindness organization, but still feel free to tailor it to your disability. Hopefully this at least gives folks a first step on action they can take. We’re gonna need all hands on deck for this one y’all.

A lot of leftist accounts are suspiciously quiet on the section 504 lawsuit, proposed medicaid cuts, and the "make America healthy again" executive order.

I know other leftists are not the enemy but if we don't have able bodied allies and general population support, there's no hope of pushing back against these ableist policies. These big accounts ignoring a massive minority at risk is scary. The current admin is the problem but there's no hope of a solution without allyship.

We need visibility. We need allies.

[askablindperson]

I do want to mention that the phrase “audio description” does actually have another more formalized meaning, which is about blind accessibility for video content. Audio description if you see it in an official capacity, like at a movie theater or when streaming something online, refers to an extra audio track layered on top of the existing show/movie audio with a narrator verbally describing what is happening on screen for blind viewers. So it seems that this term may have two wildly conflicting definitions, and it may be important to specify which one you mean online. Otherwise, you might end up with quite a few confused blind people in the notes…

Incidentally, if you see the letters “AD” next to a TV show or movie listing in the same area as the closed captioning “CC,” that is what that refers to. Audio description tracks for the blind. Fun fact.

an audio description is just to describe everything that can be heard in a video. a video transcript only focuses on transcribing what someone said in a video. a video description describes what you see and hear in a video. (sidenote: ID is short for image description. so you can use VD for video description). a video transcript can provide most of the essential information from a video if the entire video is simply someone talking, and the focus is already on what they're saying and nothing else. but generally an audio description or transcript can make a video more accessible to Deaf/HOH while a video description makes a video accessible to blind/VI as well and sometimes i'm not sure people are clear on the purpose of what they're adding

[askablindperson]

descriptive transcript:

Haben, a Black woman in her thirties with long dark hair, speaks to the camera, a vibrant blue wall behind her.

Haben: If you're a creator, add transcripts to your videos. I can't see videos, I can't hear videos, but I can read transcripts.

Pins on a Braillenote Touch pop up and down in their Braille cells. Each cell has eight pins that are either positioned up or down depending on the specific Braille letter.

Haben: Braille displays connect to phones and laptops, allowing Braille readers to access the internet this way. Descriptive transcripts should have both the visuals of what's happening on screen and speech and key sounds for the video. Really good descriptive transcripts captivate readers just like the best novels.

The Braille display disappears and the video shows Haben in the same room.

Haben: Once we have widespread accessibility, it'll be easier for deafblind people to share our stories and also participate in conversations. I love learning from lives different from mine and in order for me to do that, I need transcripts. I look forward to reading all your transcripts!

end transcript.

sharing for people who aren't aware this is a thing & can put it into practice, video transcript copied from haben's instagram (please let me know if the format needs to be adjusted in some way 👍🏻)

[askablindperson]

Listen, I know we're all exhausted, but we gotta get better about adding image descriptions to disability related stuff. Everyone should be IDing everything anyways, but there's a particularly cruel irony in disability related stuff not being accessible to folks with low/no vision.

[askablindperson]

Exploring How Toph Beifong Could Be Played By A Blind Actress and Refuting Reasons Some People Believe She Couldn’t

[Image Description: Toph Beifong from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She is waving her hand in front of her face after joking that she spotted the great library, tricking the Gaang only to remind them that she is blind. She rides on Appa who is flying above a desert landscape. End I.D.]

The live-action adaptation of season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender is underway. This means people are discussing Toph again, much like they did during pre-production of season 1. I have seen and even participated in promoting the idea of Toph being portrayed by a blind actress. Similarly, I have come across push-back against the idea.

Instead of if Toph Should Be Portrayed by a Blind Actress, Let’s Focus on How She Could

(should and could are bolded for emphasis)

This post will address common misconceptions that serve as barriers to the idea of a blind actress portraying Toph.

A Few Notes Before We Start

These points come from posts on online forums, YouTube comments on videos related to the casting of Toph, and tumblr posts. No one will be specifically called out here, as while these points may be attributed to certain individuals online, they represent much wider views that are shared by many, even without malicious intent. These common misconceptions stem from unchecked ableism and general lack of information. Keep in mind that my intention is not to call out any individual person, as ableism is a widespread, collective problem. The reasons I refuted in this post showed up repeatedly and were not isolated opinions of one or two people.

1. No, it would not be too difficult to find an actress who is Asian, blind, and the right age

[Image Description: Toph as The Blind Bandit uses earthbending to create three pillars of rock that shoot at an angle from the ground and smash into her opponent, throwing him against the arena wall. End I.D.]

This point suggests that it is difficult to find candidates fitting Toph’s description. I suspect this is due to racism and ableism, in that a white and abled person is considered default and therefore believed to be more common, especially by Western studio standards. This is not truly the case. People of color and disabled people are auditioning, especially for the comparatively few roles that seek them out specifically, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Blind Asian people exist. Some of these people are also actresses. Some have backgrounds in dance or martial arts, especially because many actors do similar activities to increase endurance and versatility. Finding a pre-teen or teenager to play Toph would not be as challenging as many people believe, especially those who already underestimate the amount of blind people in the world and their abilities.

Those who argue this point may be under the impression that a blind actress would be out of reach due to low numbers and lack of interest in auditioning. Blind people are auditioning. The reason you don’t see them on screen is because most of them are ignored in favor of abled actors. For example, in this video, Molly Burke discusses not being chosen to play a blind character whom she was told was based on her own life. The actress chosen to play the character was not blind. You can watch it here.

Additionally, Netflix has the ability to hold a widespread casting call. They are not a tiny studio doing productions in someone’s backyard. They have access to a wider pool of actresses than the average person might think, particularly if said person is not familiar with the resources big studios often have at their disposal.

In fact, Netflix is doing just that. Below is a link to their casting call, which encourages blind and low vision actresses to audition.

Link to casting call here with alt text.

2. Some people believe Toph isn’t really blind and therefore the actress who plays her needs to be able to see

[Image Description: Toph as The Blind Bandit using bending, with shots showing her hands and feet. As her bare foot slides sideways across the ground, the camera zooms out to show her sensing vibrations. The image turns greyscale, with circles of white vibrations emanating from around Toph’s body, where they expand and flow outward. End I.D.]

The rationale behind this is probably the same as it is for Daredevil, meaning some don’t consider Toph to be blind because of the way she uses her bending.

An argument could be made that Toph’s powers erase her blindness or that her powerful abilities make her less relatable to the average blind person. However, I suspect that many sighted people engaging with these discussions of Toph’s casting are not also concerned with questions of erasure or relatability. In discussions questioning her blindness, the evidence given mostly centers on Toph’s physical abilities rather than relatability to real blind people.

Her bending aside, Toph is certainly blind. She experiences ableism from her parents and general community. Blindness shaped her life in a lot of ways, even with her bending, which is also influenced by her disability.

We see Toph being guided while running on the airship, needing assistance while walking on ice, and struggling to travel in a desert. She uses her other senses, including hearing and tactile senses. She has limitations regarding how she is able to interact with an unaccommodating world, such as inaccessible reading and writing systems.

There are also lifestyle and cultural implications of blindness extending beyond the inability to see. Being blind is not only about what one can and cannot do, which is true of Toph’s experience as well. Blind people may have different values, experiences with family and friends, different senses of humor, or may place higher value on other sensory experiences compared to sighted peers.

Whether or not Toph is good blindness representation can be argued. However, she is still a blind character. Her blindness influences her whole life, even as she is more than her blindness at the same time. Her life as a blind person is about more than limitations and abilities. Reducing her, and any blind person, for that matter, to only these facets of her experience oversimplifies what it is like to be a blind person.

Claiming that she isn’t a blind character because of her ability to do x, y, and z can be incorrect for a lot of reasons.

Blind people are more than what we can do or what we produce. Our experiences are rich and varied. Our lives are inherently meaningful no matter our abilities or limitations. It is both ableist and inaccurate for sighted people to attempt to put us all into boxes.

Additionally, blindness is a spectrum. [Bolded for emphasis.] You can read about it at the following posts on my blog:

here

here

here

and here.

Here is a good list of legally blind YouTubers with various types of visual experiences.

According to various sources on the blindness spectrum, about 85% to 95% of blind people have some remaining vision:

93% according to RNIB

This Perkins School For the Blind fact sheet estimates about 90 to 95% of blind have some remaining vision

American Foundation for the Blind estimates about 15% of blind people are totally blind and discusses the spectrum of blindness here

The spectrum of blindness is important because our experiences become even more diverse when the spectrum is considered. This means that assumptions about what we can and cannot do become even harder for sighted folks to guess accurately.

This accuracy is important if sighted people are going to try to put limitations on blind people, which they have no business doing anyway. They are not the authority on what blind people can do, what we cannot do, or what is good for us. Only blind people can answer that for themselves.

Lastly, blind people are already used to navigating and interacting with their surroundings. They have had anywhere from months to a lifetime of experience, which would translate better to Toph’s ease with her blindness and confidence in her bending.

While an actor wearing contacts to obscure their vision might stumble around and have difficulty on set, someone who is actually blind could lend Toph’s character a much more relaxed, confident attitude in addition to possessing experience navigating in a way that works for her. She is used to being blind. Therefore, an actress who is also used to being blind brings a lot to the performance in terms of physicality, attitude, and the ability to focus on portraying the character, rather than simulating blindness.

Which leads me into the next point.

3. The idea that Toph doesn’t move like a blind person relies on stereotypes of blind people

[Image Description: A GIF from the episode “The Runaway”. Toph, Sokka, and Aang all con some con artists and cheer after their victory, Toph raising her arms high before snatching the prizes. They all run away. End I.D.]

There is no specific way of moving like a blind person. Like sighted people, the way blind people move may be influenced by many factors, such as level of vision, how long they have been blind, their mobility aid, navigation techniques, familiarity with their environment, level of confidence, feelings of safety, other disabilities, energy levels, cultural factors, and more.

While there are mannerisms that are recognizable to blind communities, there is no one way to move like a blind person. Just as there is no one way to look blind.

The ideas of “not moving like a blind person” or “not looking blind” come from stereotypes of blindness. In fact, these ideas can be so pervasive that blind people who don’t fit stereotypes may be accused of faking. I explore this subject here.

In this video, Sam from The Blind Life discusses the experience of performing blindness or being pressured to act more blind than he is. Link here. He explains while he has some vision, he uses his cane to indicate to others that he is blind. This is one of the main functions of a cane. Sam explains feeling pressure to adhere to certain stereotypes about blindness or risk being accused of faking.

Similarly, in this video linked here, Molly Burke discusses the stereotype that blind people’s eyes look noticeably different from sighted eyes. This includes the inaccurate belief that all blind people have cloudy eyes, blank eyes, eyes that are always closed, or eyes that simply must be covered in dark sunglasses to protect the sensibilities of sighted people. Molly explains that while blind people can certainly have these attributes, not all of us do. Molly laments that the phrase, “You don’t look blind,” is either used to invalidate her or to praise her for passing as a sighted person, which is ableist.

Just as blind people don’t look the same way, we don’t move the exact same ways either. That applies to Toph as well. For example, she prefers to keep her feet on solid ground for bending purposes, orientation, and possibly due to cultural factors valuing stability and connection to the earth.

4. The idea that accommodations would be impossible to provide is rooted in ableism

[Image description: A GIF of Toph and Zuko sitting beside each other on the floor at the Ember Island theatre episode. Toph punches Zuko’s arm. Metaphorically for the purposes of this post, she is punching ableist ideas that have nothing to do with Zuko. End I.D]

Here is a thread I shared in the early days of this blog, wherein the topics of blind actors and accommodations are discussed. The entire thread might also be helpful for this post, as I explore the same points, which shows how common these misconceptions are. While this may seem to be an isolated online disagreement, none of these arguments are new. That is why I believe this topic is important— these arguments about accommodations being too difficult or a burden on others also pop up in conversations about other workforces and other disabilities.

A blind character not being played by a blind actor is one thing. A blind person not being hired for a job they are qualified for due to resistance to providing accommodations is not so easy to ignore, not so seemingly isolated a concern. These barriers don’t only apply to blind actors looking for work. They apply to all blind people looking for work.

That means most of this isn’t really about Toph, nor the opinions of random people online. Instead, I hope to highlight common patterns in ableist thinking and dispel these ideas using a character people care about. This is, of course, in addition to my own desire to have a blind actress play Toph.

With that said, let’s explore what work accommodations might look like using examples of blind actors.

Dionne Quan is a blind actress who has an extensive filmography for voiceover work, including popular characters such as Kimi from Rugrats. In this article from when the character was first introduced, she discusses how she performs. Link.

Quote from the article: “Most of the recording was done in a studio with just a mike and a stand for the script. I had the lines in braille, and I would read them on the way over to get into character. You have to have your bag of tricks ready to go.”

Most of the work Quan discusses involves typical acting stuff. The accommodations given to her are similar to adaptations that might be made in an office setting. Additionally, with all the technology available now, it is easy to make a script accessible through large print, VoiceOver and memorization, Word document instead of a PDF, a Braille display, etc.

And as of August 2024, Quan can add adult Toph Beifong to her list of characters. Which is super exciting and, I thought, an appropriate fact to include in this post. You can read more here.

To continue the discussion of accommodations for actors, I would like to discuss Ellie Wallwork. Wallwork is a blind actress who has performed on Doctor Who.

She describes her experiences on set, such as blocking scenes and using tactile accommodations in this short video from the SeeSaw podcast. Link here.

Transcript:

Elie Wallwork speaking:

“Obviously, markers are just normally flat bits of tape on the floor. I had to have some sort of tactile ones so I knew where I was stepping onto. And it takes longer. It definitely takes a bit longer. I guess the thing that frustrates me about the industry is that sometimes casting directors will think, ‘Well, how could a blind person possibly do this, do that? How could they do stunts? How could they even navigate around set?’ But it’s perfectly possible if you— for example, with the crew that I had on all the productions I’ve been on, they’ve all been really kind, really patient with me and able to understand that, yeah, okay, it might take me five minutes longer to block a scene, but that’s fine because it means it’s authentic.”

End transcript.

You can listen to the full episode here.

Lastly, I find that many sighted people are not generally knowledgeable when it pertains to what blind people can or cannot do. Examples of this lack of knowledge include frequent questions about how blind people read, exist in online spaces, cook, etc—and these are simply from posts on my own blog.

Here is a link to a discussion thread that explores ableist assumptions people often make what blind people are or are not able to do. It particularly relevant for this topic. Link can be found here. Please remember that while I did respond to some folks who expressed opinions colored by ableist assumptions, that post is not about them. Just as this post is about addressing ableism in general rather than from a specific source.

The point is: consider why abled people are so comfortable stating what blind people can and cannot do, when one of the most common questions about blindness is still “how do you use a phone or the internet?”

People who aren’t blind often fail to grasp what our limitations actually are. Many people are still surprised to learn that technology or accommodations exist for us, despite having access to various forms of technology themselves. They struggle to understand that we can live our daily lives, possibly because they personally cannot imagine themselves without the vision they rely on, such as that time a professor asked blind content creator Stephanie Renburg [quote] “How do you live?” when the conversation was supposed to be about school accommodations [Link here].

This brings me to an assertion that is often made when sighted actors obscure their vision in order to play blind characters. It is often noted that it was too hard for them emotionally, mentally, and physically. Because of this reaction, the assumption is made that a blind person cannot possibly perform the role.

For example, in the article linked here, this is stated about Jamie Foxx in his role as Ray Charles. “Some actors, including Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in “Ray” (2004, best actor) and Blake Lively in “All I See Is You” (2017), have chosen to wear ocular prosthetics, rendering them literally blind during their performances. But this creates a new problem: Unlike real blind people, who can spend years honing their orientation and mobility skills, the blindfolded sighted person becomes lost, confused and frightened with the sudden loss of sight — Foxx told interviewers he began hyperventilating as soon as his eyes were glued shut with the custom prosthetic eyelids that the filmmakers affixed over his eyes.”

Being blind is different from a sighted person temporarily obscuring their vision. Blind people have a better handle on being blind because we’ve been doing it longer. Blindness is part of our lives. Of course blind people are going to have an easier time portraying blind characters. This means most of the concerns people bring up when discussing sighted actors struggling with being unable to see won’t actually apply to blind people who have been at this for far longer.

I also wanted to address the idea that hiring blind actors would cost more, according to the assertion made in that thread about hiring blind actors, which you can read here if you haven’t already. While I can understand why someone might believe hiring a blind actor would cost more, I believe it would actually cost less.

Blind actors can use their own canes or other assistive devices used by the character, which saves money on expensive materials

Blind actors likely already have experience with O&M training, saving money and time that would otherwise be spent training a sighted actor, such as described here

Blind actors don’t need contacts or prosthetics, which may otherwise be used help an actor simulate blindness

And blind actors would have an easier time navigating sets, dancing, or doing required physical activities while blind, which reduces the learning curve that sighted actors with obscured vision need

A few Disclaimers:

1) Blind people learn from our communities and through life experience. While we naturally have more experience being blind, our knowledge is enhanced through learning from other blind people and participating in training designed to improve our life skills. I maintain that a sighted person obscuring their vision for a few hours will not have the same level of experience.

2) Reminder that blindness is a spectrum that a blindfold cannot replicate.

and 3) This post is not to say that sighted actors cannot do well or cannot put effort into their performance. According to the article above, Charlie Cox won an award from the AFB for his commitment to portraying Daredevil. However, just because there are sighted actors willing to put in the work does not mean blind actors can’t. I wanted to include this disclaimer in case someone sees the AFB article I shared and worried I’m trying to disparage actors who have already portrayed blind characters and happened to do a good job. After all, I love the original performance we received from Michaela Murphy, who originally voiced Toph. That doesn’t mean studios should not make an effort to cast more blind actors moving forward, nor does it justify any of the silly or explicitly ableist reasons people give for why sighted actors must be chosen over blind ones.

Let us return to refuting those excuses with the last thing I wanted to address.

5. Some people are concerned that a blind person might get hurt doing martial arts, but so can literally anyone else

[Image description: GIF of Toph dressed in Fire Nation attire. She punches through a rock.]

Kids can get hurt in any kind of sport, yet society doesn’t try to keep children from these activities for their own safety. However, disabled kids—and adults for that matter—are often reminded that we are being kept out of spaces for our own protection. Which we didn’t need, nor ask for.

This need to protect disabled people can be not only infantilizing, but hypocritical as well. For example, a blind person might be discouraged from playing recreational sports in a misguided attempt to protect them. Conversely, structures that keep blind people at risk are allowed to stay firmly in place, such as discrimination around transportation, inaccessible infrastructure, and poverty.

Blind people play sports anyway. Often, these sports carry their own risks of injury, as most sports do. Blind people have the agency to understand this and consent to it. Examples include blind football [link] and goalball [link].

Here is a video of Sadi the Blind Lady discussing goalball with Eliana Mason, a Paralympic athlete who plays goalball professionally.

Transcript: “Goalball is sport for blind and visually impaired athletes. It was created after World War II for blinded veterans and is now a Paralympic sport. The coolest thing about it is that everyone wears eyeshades so no matter what your level of vision loss is—because blindness is a spectrum— it equalizes it. The ball has bells in it and the court is straight with tape over it. It’s on a volleyball sized court. It’s three on three. And basically in offense, we are throwing the ball as hard as we can with a lot of technique involved, about 30 to 45 miles an hour to have it hit the ground and roll and hit the other players on their bodies. And on defense, you are throwing your body out and diving in front of this 3 pound ball and blocking it. So essentially you want to get hit with the ball.”

End transcript.

Getting hit with a ball, especially in the face or stomach area, is going to hurt. That is okay, because as long as safety precautions are taken, pain might be part of the experience depending on the rules and anticipated possibility of injury.

Martial arts and dance, which are backgrounds sought specifically in the Netflix Toph casting call, can also lead to accepted forms of pain or discomfort. While one could argue that sports injuries could and should be preventable, this post is more concerned with the expectation of pain, injuries, and what steps are taken to prevent them, such as protective gear or an experienced coach / teacher.

A blind person auditioning for Toph knows that martial arts will be involved. She will spend time learning choreography, building trust with co-actors, and figuring out works best for her. This structure is similar for blind people playing football or goalball or tennis or fencing or whatever else they want to do.

Lastly, people who aren’t blind also experience pain or injury during sports. Same with martial arts or dance.

The actress who plays Toph might get hurt. She might not. Some pain might even be an expected part of training. That is no reason to exclude a blind person from participating. That is no reason to say Toph couldn’t be played by a blind actress. [Bolded for emphasis]

Lastly, anyone training actors on fight choreography already knows how to do so safely. That fact that this is choreography is also helpful, allowing for memorization of actions and reactions. Conversely, the sports and physical activities I listed above are not choreographed, with the exception of dance, and are therefore less predictable. Therefore, if blind people can get head injuries playing on a recreational blind football team, a blind actress can handle fight choreography.

Closing

Thank you for reading all of this. My points still stand whether or not a blind person is actually cast for Toph.

Too Long, Didn’t Read:

Unchecked ableism can lead to oppression even if it is unintentional

Blind actors exist

A blind actor would better capture Toph’s ease and confidence with her blindness

Blind people can do a lot more than sighted people usually think they can

Blind people also face discrimination and limitations that sighted people may not have considered

Blindness is a spectrum and most blind people can still see something

There is no one way to look or move like a blind person

Accommodations are not that difficult to provide

Hiring a blind person would actually cost less money

Most of the popular reasons people believe Toph cannot be played by a blind actress are rooted in ableism

This post is not only about Toph or actors, but an example of how unchecked ableism can be harmful

For example, low employment rates for blind people, inaccessible online resources, or Toph-related posts shared without image descriptions

Toph Beifong could totally be played by a blind actress

[askablindperson]

How Toph Beifong Could Be Played By A Blind Actress and Refuting Reasons Some People Believe She Couldn’t

[Image Description: Toph Beifong from Avatar: The Last Airbender. She is waving her hand in front of her face after joking that she spotted the great library, tricking the Gaang only to remind them that she is blind. She rides on Appa who is flying above a desert landscape. End I.D.]

Let’s discuss Toph, a.k.a. Melon Lord!

The live-action adaptation of season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender is underway. This means people are discussing Toph again, much like they did during pre-production of season 1. I have seen and even participated in promoting the idea of Toph being portrayed by a blind actress. Similarly, I have come across push-back against the idea.

Instead of if Toph Should Be Portrayed by a Blind Actress, Let’s Focus on How She Could

(should and could are bolded for emphasis)

I am going to attempt to address common misconceptions, concerns, and questions that serve as barriers to the very idea of a blind actress portraying Toph. I will give my thoughts on each general point and refute it as best I can.

A Few Notes Before We Start

These points come from posts on online forums, YouTube comments on videos related to the casting of Toph, and tumblr posts.

No one will be specifically called out in this post, as while these points may be attributed to certain individuals online, they represent much wider views that are shared by many, even without malicious intent. Many of these stem from unchecked ableism and general lack of information. Some of these points might even seem unfair or taken in bad faith on my part, in which these can also viewed as potential arguments people may have. Keep in mind that my intention is not to call out any individual person, as ableism is a widespread, collective problem.

With that said, let us get started.

1. No, it would not be too difficult to find an actress who is Asian, blind, the right age, etc.

[Image Description: Toph as The Blind Bandit uses earthbending to create three pillars of rock that shoot at an angle from the ground and smash into her opponent, throwing him against the arena wall. End I.D.]

This point suggests that it is difficult to find candidates that fit Toph’s description. I suspect this is partly due to racism and ableism, in that a white and abled person is considered more common and easier to come by, especially by Western studio standards. This is not truly the case. People of color and disabled people are auditioning, especially for the comparatively few roles that seek them out specifically, such as Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Basically, blind Asian people exist. Some of these people are also actresses. Some have backgrounds in dance or martial arts, especially because many actors do so to increase their endurance and versatility. Finding a pre-teen or teenager to play Toph would not be as challenging as many people believe, especially those who already underestimate the amount of blind people in the world and their abilities.

Those who argue this point may be under the impression that a blind actress would be out of reach due to low numbers and lack of interest in auditioning. Blind people are auditioning. Disabled people are auditioning. The reason you don’t see them on screen is because most of the time they are ignored in favor of abled actors. For example, in this video, Molly Burke discusses not being chosen to play a blind character whom she was told was based on her own life. The actress chosen to play the character was not blind. You can watch it here.

Additionally, Netflix has the ability to have a widespread casting call. They are not a tiny studio doing productions in someone’s backyard. They have access to a wider pool of actresses than the average person might think, particularly if they are not familiar with the film industry and the resources big studios often have at their disposal.

In fact, Netflix is doing just that. Below is a link to their casting call, along with a link to Twitter that encourages blind and low vision actresses to audition. This is an example of reach and resources. By inviting actresses to submit audition in-person auditions, which removes barriers such as transportation concerns.

Link to casting call here with alt text.

2. Some people believe Toph isn’t really blind and therefore the actress who plays her needs to be able to see

[Image Description: Toph as The Blind Bandit using bending, with shots showing her hands and feet. As her bare foot slides sideways across the ground, the camera zooms out to show her sensing vibrations. The image turns greyscale, with circles of white vibrations emanating from around Toph’s body, where they expand and flow outward. End I.D.]

The rationale behind this is probably the same as it is for Daredevil, meaning some don’t consider Toph to be blind because of the way she uses her bending.

There is an argument that could be made for the idea that Toph’s powers erase her blindness or that her powerful abilities make her less relatable to the average blind person. However, I suspect that many sighted folks engaging with these discussions of Toph’s casting are not also engaging with questions of erasure or relatability. My line of thinking stems from the fact that when I find discussions questioning her blindness, the evidence given comes down to Toph’s ability to do physical activities.

Her bending aside, Toph is certainly blind. She experiences ableism from her parents and general community. Blindness shaped her life in a lot of ways, even with her bending, which is also influenced by her disability.

We see Toph being guided while running on the airship, while walking on ice, and struggling to travel in a desert. She uses her other senses, including hearing and tactile senses. She has limitations regarding how she is able to interact with an unaccommodating world, such as inability to read and write and needing others to describe things for her.

There are also lifestyle and cultural implications of blindness that extend beyond inability to see. Being blind is not only about what one can and cannot do, which is true of Toph’s experience as well. Blind people may have different values, experiences with family and friends, different senses of humor, or may place higher value on other sensory experiences compared to sighted peers.

Whether or not Toph is good blindness representation can be argued. However, she is still a blind character. Her blindness influences her whole life, even as she more than her blindness at the same time. Her life as a blind person is about more than limitations and abilities. Reducing her, and any blind person, for that matter, to only these facets of her experience oversimplifies what it is like to be a blind person.

Claiming that she isn’t a blind character because of her ability to do x, y, and z can be incorrect for a lot of reasons.

Blind people are more than what we can do or what we produce. Our experiences are rich and varied. Our lives are inherently meaningful no matter what abilities we have or what limitations we have. This means it is not only ableist but also inaccurate for sighted people to attempt to put us all into boxes.

Additionally, blindness is a spectrum. [Bolded for emphasis.] You can read about it at the following posts on my blog:

here

here

here

and here.

Here is a good list of legally blind YouTubers with various types of visual experiences.

According to various sources on the blindness spectrum, about 85% to 95% of blind people have some remaining vision:

93% according to RNIB

This Perkins School For the Blind fact sheet estimates about 90 to 95% of blind have some remaining vision

American Foundation for the Blind estimates about 15% of blind people are totally blind and discusses the spectrum of blindness here

Why is the spectrum of blindness important? Because our experiences become even more diverse when the spectrum is considered. This means that assumptions about what we can and cannot do become even harder for sighted folks to gage accurately.

This accuracy is important if sighted people are going to try to put limitations on blind people, which they have no business doing anyway. Because they are not the authority on what blind people can do, what we cannot do, what is good for us, and much more. Only blind people can answer that for themselves both collectively and individually.

Lastly, blind people are already used to navigating and interacting with their surroundings. They have had anywhere from months to a lifetime of experience, which would translate better to Toph’s ease and confidence with her blindness and her bending.

While an actor wearing contacts to obscure their vision might stumble around and have difficulty on set, someone who is actually blind could lend Toph’s character a much more chill, confident attitude in addition to possessing experience navigating in a way that works for her. She is used to being blind. Therefore, an actress who is also used to being blind brings a lot to the performance in terms of physicality, attitude, and the ability to focus on portraying the character, rather than simulating blindness.

Which leads me into the next point.

3. The idea that Toph doesn’t move like a blind person relies on stereotypes of blind people

[Image Description:

My reply - how does a blind person move?

Funny tikoks

Explaining that blind people comfortable with being blind don’t move the way sighted people do when they close their eyes

Dollhouse article

Blindness spectrum again

4. The idea that accommodations would be impossible to provide is rooted in ableism

[Image description: A GIF of Toph and Zuko sitting beside each other on the floor at the Ember Island theatre episode. Toph punches Zuko’s arm. Metaphorically for the purposes of this post, she is punching ableist ideas that have nothing to do with Zuko. End I.D]

My reply - work accommodations

Dionne Quan is a blind actress who has an extensive filmography for voiceover work, including popular characters such as Kimi from Rugrats. In this article from when the character was first introduced, she discusses how she performs. Link.

Quote from the article “Most of the recording was done in a studio with just a mike and a stand for the script. "I had the lines in braille, and I would read them on the way over to get into character. You have to have your bag of tricks ready to go.”

Most of the work Quan discusses involves typical acting stuff. The accommodations given to her are small adaptations akin to regular work accommodations. Additionally, with all the technology available now, it is probably much easier to make a script accessible through large print, VoiceOver and memorization, Word document instead of a PDF, a Braille display, etc.

And as of August 2024, Quan can now add adult Toph Beifong to her list of characters. Which is super exciting and, I thought, an appropriate fact to include in this post. You can read more here.

To continue the discussion of accommodations for actors, I would like to discuss Ellie Wallwork. Wallwork is a blind actress who has performed on Doctor Who.

She describes her experiences on set, such as blocking scenes and using tactile accommodations in this short video from the SeeSaw podcast. Link here.

Transcript:

Elie Wallwork speaking:

“Obviously, markers are just normally flat bits of tape on the floor. I had to have some sort of tactile ones so I knew where I was stepping onto. And it takes longer. It definitely takes a bit longer. I guess the thing that frustrates me about the industry is that sometimes casting directors will think, ‘Well, how could a blind person possibly do this, do that? How could they do stunts? How could they even navigate around set?’ But it’s perfectly possible if you— for example, with the crew that I had on all the productions I’ve been on, they’ve all been really kind, really patient with me and able to understand that, yeah, okay, it might take me five minutes longer to block a scene, but that’s fine because it means it’s authentic.”

End transcript.

You can listen to the full episode here.

Lastly, I find that many sighted people are not generally knowledgeable when it pertains to what blind people can or cannot do. Examples of this lack of knowledge include frequent questioning about how blind people read, exist in online spaces, cook, etc—and these are simply from posts on my own blog.

here

and here

Another example includes one from the set of Dollhouse, wherein a blind person was brought in to show the sighted actress how to move believably. The actress ended up needing to exaggerate her movements because the filmmakers believed it would be harder for audiences to believe a blind person could move normally.

Here is a link to a discussion thread that explores ableist assumptions people often make what blind people are or are not able to do. It particularly relevant for this topic. Link can be found here. Please remember that while I did respond to some folks who expressed opinions colored by ableist assumptions, that post is not about them. Just as this post is about addressing ableism in general rather than from a specific source.

The point is: consider why abled people are so comfortable stating confidently what blind people can and cannot do, when one of the most common questions about blindness is still “how do you use a phone or the internet?”

People who aren’t blind often fail to grasp what our actual limitations are. They are often surprised to learn that technology or accommodations exist for us. They refuse to entertain the idea that we can live our daily lives possibly because they personally cannot imagine themselves being without the vision they rely on.

This brings me to an assertion that is often made when actors obscure their vision in order to play characters. It is often noted that it was too hard for them emotionally, mentally, and physically. The assumption is then made that a blind person cannot possibly perform the role.

For example, in the article linked here, this is stated about Jamie Fox in his role as Ray Charles.

This article captures the whirlwind of the many possible messy blind experiences. This includes being barred from certain parts of society because of ignorance or lack of accommodations, to both rude and well-meaning types of discrimination, to

5. Some people are concerned that a blind person might get hurt doing martial arts, but so can literally anyone else

[Image description:

Blind sports

[askablindperson]

Listen, I know we're all exhausted, but we gotta get better about adding image descriptions to disability related stuff. Everyone should be IDing everything anyways, but there's a particularly cruel irony in disability related stuff not being accessible to folks with low/no vision.

[askablindperson]

people with visible differences are accused of being liars too

there is no disabled person who escapes being accused of lying

[askablindperson]

When people put image IDs under the cut (Keep Reading) of a post on Tumblr, does a screenreader still detect it? Or does it skip it?

Hi! Thank you for the question.

So, in general, most of the time, a screen reader can find the “read more“ button/link and successfully activate it. And, the majority of the time, we can then subsequently read the rest of the post after activating the read more.

However, I want to put heavy emphasis when I say “most of the time.“ Tumblr is notoriously known for being barely usable with a screen reader at best and actively hostile to screen reader users at worst, and there are inconsistencies galore as well as frequent accessibility breaking updates. There are times when I have been able to access a read more one day, and then log on the very next day and find that I am totally unable to find it at all. There are other days where one post allows me to activate it just fine, but another gives me so much trouble that I give up And log off for the day completely in frustration.

For these reasons, as well as several others, it is almost always universally recommended to not put an image description under a read more. The image description should always be in the standard body of the post, and/or in the alt text.

The other big reason why it’s not great to put an image description under a read more is that if you delete your blog, that read more can no longer be activated, so that image description is gone forever even if others can still re-blog other versions of the post.

And, lastly, putting an image description under a read more simply just creates extra steps for disabled Tumblr users that non-disabled users don’t have to do to get access to the post and its content. We are often already doing so many extra steps just to use the website as a whole because of how inaccessible so much of it is, and putting more barriers in the way means that far fewer Blind people are likely to ever see that image description. Or if we do see that post and notice that you have put a description under a read more, we might already be out of spoons for the day and clicking that read more is just another tiring frustration. The description should be readily available And as easy to access as the original image is for fully sighted users if you want to create a truly equitable experience.

I hope this helps answer your question!

[askablindperson]

Hello! I have a question regarding screenreaders? How do I knoe what they possibly can't read?

I found some funky brackets on my phone keyboard and thought it'd look fun to use them on my IDs but im not sure if they fuck over screenreaders like keyboard smashes do, go unnoticed like bold text (in which case i guess its alright since apparently it also doesn't notify a regular bracket as other than a pause) or is read just like a regular emoji.

Oh, and also happy disability pride month!

Hi there! Thank you for the question.

Most likely, these would be red allowed by most screen readers on the default punctuation settings, so they could make the ID experience slightly clunkier to read with a screen reader. However, if they are the wavy brackets I am thinking of that can usually be typed on a standard keyboard, they are accessible, they just have a slightly longer name than standard brackets, which would be the only reason they could make the ID experience a tad more clunky. But it should not break most screen readers’ ability to read it in general.

It is important to note that most screen readers have settings where the user can adjust how much punctuation is spoken allowed and in what context, so this could vary from person to person. And even on most screen readers, the default punctuation settings can very slightly from screen reader to screen reader, so some may read them out by default and others may skip over them by default.

In general though, for an image description, I typically recommend to keep it as simplistic plain text as possible without decorative flourishes, so if you’re worried about it, I think sticking to standard brackets is probably the better safe than sorry route to go. Although I would love to hear from other screen reader users in the notes Whether or not the wavy brackets would impact your image description experience!

Thank you for the question and I hope this helps! Apologies that it’s so late.

Happy disability pride month to you too!!

[askablindperson]

As a blind person with photophobia—though I don’t have albinism—I would also like to add that a blindfold would likely also obscure the vision the character does have left, since many folks with albinism are blind or low vision. And even if he is fully sighted, this would still impede that otherwise fully functional vision.

Sunglasses don’t create this problem as much since they are deliberately designed to be seen through, whereas fabric is not, though even sunglasses sometimes obscure a blind or low vision persons remaining vision more than they would prefer, so hats can be a great alternative to keep the sun Out of your eyes while also not obscuring whatever vision you do have left. Therefore, I would also highly agree with the suggestions these folks make about considering an enchanted hat instead.

If this character is blind or low vision though, it’s also important to consider whether or not that factor of impeding their vision does matter to them or not. For me, I find relying on my eyes more stressful and exhausting and also generally just less reliable when walking about the world, so being able to see what I’m doing isn’t as much of a priority as getting the darkest sunglasses I possibly can. I am much more comfortable relying on my cane and my ears then trying to use my limited vision, so I would prioritize light blocking features over visibility.

But there are plenty of other blind/low vision folks who feel exactly the opposite, so having something like a blindfold on that would make it harder to see through would be a hard no for them. The same is true of sunglasses, though again sunglasses are meant to be seen through so the effect isn’t nearly as severe as a piece of fabric would be. Some folks may feel that while a darker pair of sunglasses might be more effective at blocking the light and soothing the photophobia, they can’t see as well, so they prefer a lighter tint or prefer to use a hat instead or a combination of the two to maximize both visibility and photophobia relief.

However, even in a situation like mine where I really don’t care about maximizing visibility and it’s all about reducing the light for me, the blindfolded blind character trope is still a somewhat uncomfortable one, and I would generally just prefer not to see that and would rather prioritize alternative mechanisms like the ones mentioned above. I myself would not enjoy walking around the real world with a full light blocking blindfold on, partly because it just looks kind of odd, and partly because it has a certain stereotyped appearance that I would not like, and partly because it does not sound as comfortable as a hat or glasses. I’d rather have really strong blackout sunglasses since they are more socially normative and practical.

So yeah. I agree wholeheartedly with the folks above that I think an alternative solution like an enchanted hat or enchanted sunglasses would be much better.

Hey! I have a character with albinism, so he does have photophobia- He’s in a magical setting too. I was wondering if giving him a translucent black “blindfold” (I don’t know how else to describe it sorry) enchanted to help him with his light sensitivity is okay, it doesn’t have any other use it’s just there to help him be more comfortable

Hi!

As someone with photophobia, I think that a regular hat would be a much more effective solution. Even outside the old "blind character wearing a blindfold" trope, that just doesn't sound comfortable to wear. I know I would take a hat over a blindfold any day - which is exactly what I do in my daily life.

mod Sasza

I second what Sasza said, especially since you say it serves no other purpose! I may also suggest you change it to sunglasses instead of a blindfold, if you want to keep it centered around the eyes. If you truly insist on having there being a magical component though...

It removes all pain throughout the body, so by extension, discomfort caused by photophobia is alleviated. Perhaps its an all purpose accessory that can change to be a hat for general headaches, sunglasses for eye strain, bracelets for arm/hand pain, etc. This lessens the emphasis on "healing blindness", especially if t ever gets used by other characters.

It dims sensory input magically — like noise-canceling headphones but for your eyes? This subverts the trope of magic making blind people have heightened senses, and can give you an opportunity to showcase how your character navigates confidently relying on their natural tactile and auditory sense capabilities.

Mod Zohar

[askablindperson]

Hi guys!

Crip camp is back on netflix! (It’s also free on youtube)!

If you’ve ever asked me a question about disability and/or anything regarding the experience, please go watch it ☝️☝️

It’s an amazing watch, the people involved were extremely passionate. It’s about disability activism in the US and history. It’s also great for learning about the disabled experience.

I could not recommend it enough. Especially to able-bodied people.

[askablindperson]

I do want to add one important clarification as a deafblind person that alt text is not inherently inaccessible to deafblind people, because many of us have enough hearing that we still use screen readers anyway if we have access to them, especially if our vision is worse than our hearing, but one can also access it using a refreshable braille display. Braille displays are very expensive, as are some screen reading software, so of course not everyone has access to those tools, but I did want to point it out.

Everything else in this post is entirely on point though and I 100% agree with all of it. Thank you for the fabulous explanation And for doing the work to teach folks how to do this more effectively!

Starting out with image descriptions: formatting

Plain text: "Starting out with image descriptions: formatting" in title text. end PT

Continuing my series about accessibility, I have decided to explain how an ID should be put in a post. I see a lot of people in here who already do image descriptions but aren't sure how to properly format them, or who format them in a way that isn't accessible. I decided to make a post to explain the basics on how to make IDs.

This won't explain what to write when you're making IDs; just how to properly put your ID in the post in a way that is accessible. For more resources on IDs, you can go to my "accessibility" and "reference" tags.

1. Text ID vs Alt Text

Plain text: Small title text saying, "1. Text ID vs Alt Text". end PT

A text ID is an ID you write on the body of the post, visible to everyone. Alt text, on the other hand, is an ID you code in along with the image, so it isn't visible for people with screenreaders, but people with it can click on the image and get that ID read out loud.

Tumblr offers the possibility to add alt text to your images, if you click on the three dots that appear on the corner of the image on mobile. Except... Oops, it doesn't always work

As with many Tumblr features, Tumblr alt text is known to glitch, and the entire alt text might disappear or not be available to users without the O.P necessarily knowing. The reasons for this range from "the post was edited later" to "reblogs ate the alt text" to "damned if I know". So, it is unreliable, and that alone is a reason why it should not be used

There are, however, other important reasons! Namely, that alt text isn't actually accessible to a lot of visually impaired people. This is because alt text can only be accessible via a screenreader, since the ID will only be available in the post's code. And not every visually impaired person uses a screenreader, including blind people

There are other accessibility features that legally blind and visually impaired people use, such as: bigger text, bigger display, high contrast text, the enhance button, color correction, and more. These people still need IDs (including of screenshots of text! They need these accessibility features to see text, so if you post a screenshot of regular text, they can't read it), but cannot see them if you only put it on alt text

Not to mention that some blind people cannot use a screenreader even if they preferred that to other accessibility features, because they are Deafblind, have auditory processing disorder, or simply cannot listen to something at the moment for whatever reason

Tumblr is working on a feature that allows alt text to show up in the body of the post so people can read it normally, but while it isn't available to everyone, alt text is not accessible. It is not accessible to Deafblind people, people with APD, and people who prefer not to use screenreaders, which is a choice they have the right to make. Therefore, using it is not a good accessibility practice and using plain text IDs is preferable

There is also an important argument, which is that alt text is designed to be invisible to sighted folks, and that in itself is problematic because it discourages people to think about accessibility, recognize when something is or isn't accessible, and start incorporating accessibility practices into their lives. I am a strong supporter of this argument, which is another reason why I don't think I'll ever advocate for alt text. This part, however, isn't a consensus. The other parts are

2. Placement of the ID

Plain text: Small title font that reads, "2. Placement of the ID". End PT

Imagine that Tumblr's newest glitch is that any images added to a post end up at the bottom. So you see a text post that makes use of several images, but every time there is an image in the middle, you just get text that says "image" and you have to scroll down, find the image in question, then scroll back up

This is the experience you are giving blind and visually impaired people when you leave your IDs at the bottom of the post

Folks, when you add an image (or more) to a text post, you don't put it in a random place, do you? You put it in the ideal place for someone to comprehend your text. There is a logical, comprehensible sequence between text and image, and the image is right where it's supposed to be

Therefore, it is also where the ID should be

Please understand me clearly: an ID is their user's image. It substitutes the image for them. When you are writing one, it is helpful to ask yourself, "what would this look like if there was no image, only the ID?". Because that's what it's effectively like for people who need IDs

If the ID is anywhere that is not directly over or under the image, it's in the wrong place. If a place is where the image should be, then it's also where the ID should be

And yes, this includes when you post an image post with just a one-line caption underneath. Most of the time, the caption doesn't make sense without knowledge of the image. If you didn't post the caption before the image, there's no reason to put the caption before the ID

3. About "ID" and "End ID"

Plain text: Small title font reading "3. About 'ID' and 'End ID'." End PT

I occasionally see people posting IDs without the "ID" and "End ID" at the beginning and end, so I thought it'd be helpful to explain why they are needed.

Without the "ID" at the beginning, someone who can't see your image will not be able to tell that the image is described, and will assume that what you are posting is a caption. Then they will probably skip it, or at least believe they are missing the image's information

There is really no other way to make it obvious that what you are about to post is an image description. And a lot of the time, even reading the ID won't make it obvious that it's an ID if you can't already see the image. This is particularly true when the image in question is a screenshot of text and the ID is just a transcription without information that it's a transcription. Someone who sees that and can't see the image will assume that it's your own caption to the image, which could be literally anything

Similarly, the "End ID" is important for the person to know where the ID ends and the poster's caption or commentary begins. Again, there is no way for them to know otherwise. Not even the paragraph break, because some IDs are longer than a paragraph, especially if it's an image with lots of information, such as an infographic or spreadsheet

Using brackets [] instead of the "ID" and "End ID" is NOT ["not" in caps and bold] an appropriate substitution, because brackets are a form of punctuation, and therefore, screenreaders will just read them as a pause. A pause which they would already have because of the paragraph breaks. So, for screenreader users, they offer absolutely no differentiation

Note: "ID" stands for "Image Description", not "Identification". So you don't need to say "Image ID", as that would be "Image Image Description". That's not a cardinal sin that deeply affects your accessibility or anything, but it's good to know. I was saying "Image ID" for like a year before I realized that and I felt really stupid afterwards, so I thought you'd like to know

4. Formatted text

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I see a lot of people posting their IDs in formatted text (usually tiny text or italics, but occasionally bold, colored text, and others). You should not have your ID in any kind of formatted text

Why? Because most forms of formatted text are unreadable to at least some people with visual impairments, if not all of them. This will generally not be a problem for screenreader users unless you use all caps, stylized fonts, or embedded links. But they will be a problem to users who don't have screenreaders, which, as we've seen before, make up a significant amount of ID users

Legally blind or visually impaired users who don't use screenreaders generally rely on bigger text/display as an accessibility feature. This means that they set their phone to make text bigger for them. If you put your ID in tiny text, you are making the text small all over again. So they won't be able to read it, and your ID will be useless

I have my phone's text and display set to biggest, and Tumblr tiny text looks roughly the same size in that mode as Tumblr regular size in regular mode. That is not big enough for lots of visually impaired people to read; if it was, they wouldn't have their phones set to make text bigger

Similarly, italics make the text look thinner, which is harder for a lot of visually impaired people to read. Bold makes the letters get easily smushed together, which is also hard for some to read. Colored text has a lower contrast, which will also be harder for them to read. Not to mention visually impaired people might have other conditions that affect reading such as color blindness or dyslexia

This is specially harmful if it's long chunks of text. I've seen some people who will put everything that was directly transcribed from the image in bold or italics, and I've even done it myself for a brief period. Please don't do this! It is very hard for a lot of people to read

Every time you mess with formatting on your text, you are basically annulling someone else's accessibility features display. And since Tumblr does not allow users to turn those settings on or off, this is an accessibility issue

Note: not everyone will be negatively impacted by the use of these. Some people even find them helpful, especially if it's to signify key words. But again, since it's impossible to turn it on or off, the best way to do an ID is without formatting, a.k.a in plain text. The exception to this is BlockQuote (a.k.a idented text) and bullet points

To find out more about plain text, you can check out the other post I made about it on the link below

Link

"Do I need to put the ID between brackets?"

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You might have noticed that most people post IDs between brackets, like this: [ID: A pig wearing a baseball hat. End ID]. This might be the most common way of formatting it

It is not, however, necessary. As far as I know, people do this so people who don't need the IDs can easily know where it begins and ends, and skip them. They do not serve any accessibility purpose

Personally I don't use them, and if I want to have a visual cue to show where the ID begins and ends, I put it in BlockQuote. This is not necessary either, although it might help some people with dyslexia and ADHD better organize the contents of the post. It is fine to do, though, as long as it doesn't substitute the "ID" and "End ID"

And that's all, folks! Thanks once again for reading this long post, and I hope it was helpful

TLDR

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You should make your IDs in text, directly under or over the image, with the "ID" and "End ID" at the beginning and end, and without italics, bold, or tiny text. Using brackets isn't necessary but it's okay