An alt text description that explains a specialized term could help a reader who may be able to see a complex image but who has not encountered a specific image type before - e.g., a Venn diagram.

Great example, Nancy. That also applies to captions. Sometimes with specialized vocabulary in certain fields (law, STEM, etc.) it can be helpful to get the information presented in a variety of ways. 

This was my answer Luis! I think that closed captions provide the same benefit of allowing an additional entry point to access the information. This can also be helpful if someone is watching a recording where the audio is quiet, the speaker has an accent, or when there is a varation in the languages used in a recording (for example alternating between English and Spanish). 

Maine MOOSE Team answer

Just as we have interpersonal variability we also have intrapersonal variability. A student who normally has no problem reading a text visually may be overwhelmed one day and just need the text read to them in order to be able to access it. By providing things like descriptive alt text and multiple means of representation of material we allow more people under more conditions to access the resource regardless of the reason.

One of my favorite accessibility examples is that of a person who has just experienced some kind of emotional trauma (loss of a loved one, breakup, etc.) and has been crying a lot just before trying to complete an activity (sign up for a course,  submit an assignment). When you've been crying your vision and ability to focus may be impacted so the better the contrast and organization fo the information the better the experience may be. There are people exploring trauma as it relates to accessibility. Interesting area to follow. 

With regard to your comment about intrapersonal variability - so true. I'm only a part time screen reader. I usually start out the day with fresh eyes and can use my remaining vision to navigate and interact with content. However, as the day goes on my eyes quickly tire and I switch over to using either text to speech (read aloud) or a full screen reader depedning on how my eyes are doing that day. 

And finally, there is variability in the interaction between the user and the environment. I don't always use my white cane to navigate around my complex where I live, because I know it well. But when I'm traveling and visiting a new space, I have to rely on my cane much more Same with a website I use all the time, as opposed to one I'm seeing for the first time. 

Really appreciate the added personal and emotionally connected examples, Luis! The added item of the the variability of the environment was particularly helpful for me to think about.

I find that my anxiety gets triggered by really busy information sheets that have a lot of background colors and images, like what many people consider quite 'pretty' that they can make with programs like Canva.  If there is a clear flow I can follow I am fine, as soon as the color contrast gets low or the focus is more on it being 'attractive' than functional I feel my body start to tense and my breathing get shallow as I try to absorb the information. The same type of thing happens to me with 'tall' fonts if I have to read them for any length of time.

While these are inconveniences and uncomfortable for me it helps me empathize with others who truly can't access information in certain conditions based on how it is presented. Practicing material development from a SLIDE perspective really cuts down on the frequency of these types of negative interactions for our students and people in general.

Thanks for sharing this personlalized explanation Luis. And fascinating to think about the field of study of trauma and accsesibility.

I Tweeted what Michelle Soriano said because I loved it so much: "What is required for some is beneficial for all." I personally benefit from thoughtout design (D in SLIDE). For example, I am not color blind, but I have poor vision. Even when I have contacts or glasses, I rather not squint or strain my eyes to make out any text with poor color contrast. Some colors are also distracting and burn your eyes even if they appear on a white or black background. Finally, I get easily distracted if there are too many colors or if they don't follow a color scheme. I don't focus on the content because I am silently judging the mismatchedness of a presentation slide #ADHD #DesignSnob 

I had not heard of Camel Case before. It sounds like such a logical way to help words be more visible to all. Also, the color contrast tool! We all can benefit from carefully chosen color contrast. I'm not a graphic artist and I need this kind of checker to ensure I'm making things visible and readable to people with a wide range of vision abilities. 

Long description text can be helpful for folks who do not have background in the format of the complex image. For example, if I am not familar with venn diagrams or line graphs, I might be able to gather more information from the long description than by viewing the image itself.

Interestingly, there have been some study of students with autism and audio description and how it might help them by providing more explicit explanations of what's happening in a video. I wonder if the same might apply to long description. 

Camel Case- important for accessibility and readability, but also helpful when your vision is strained (tired, end of day, fuzzy contacts, etc). This seems like such a simple strategy. 

All of the practices of SLIDE can be beneficial to additional populations. Styles allow an individual to tabl through headings. It also makes it easier to create an outline or table of contents. Being mindful of links in presentations can helps us all. Long link addresses are confusing when read aloud by a screenreader. They are also hard for a person to jot down quickly. If attendees are only receiving a copy of a handout with a named link, however, they won't be able to click on it or see the expanded URL. QR codes might help. Captions and alt text long descriptions of images could make information more clear for everyone.   

Wishing I had learned a lot of this information years ago.

For example, using descriptive hyperlinks makes so much more sense than "click here". These kinds of simple shifts in practice such as checking color contrast and using clear alt text for images make the documents more understandable for every user. 

Using styles to give documents a clear structure also encourages authors to imrpove the organization of their ideas. In my own experience, this helps increase the clarity of my written work. I also just discussed this example with Charisse, my teammate, as she was using styles in a document that she was making for staff. Initially, she mentioned the text read more like a stream of consciousness; by going through to create headers, she evaluated the main ideas and reflected those in the formatting. I expect this to help not only the people who use screen readers,  but also anyone accessing the text visually. It may also help the author when speaking about these ideas in another context!

A lesson with the goal of engaging students into new content by means of accessing previous knowledge without curb cuts would include simple instructions with mostly verbal prompting, and probably a high amount of teacher talking time. By designing the lesson using the curb cut, teacher could present the content using the D for Design (in SLIDE) to provide high-contrast visual aid (pictograms, highlighted keywords with the appropriate font that are read by the presentation software or application, such as word online or power point) that will help children retrieve previous knowledge and better respond to prompts given by the teachers. Even though we chose (me and my group peers discussed it together), the Design aspect, other aspects of SLIDE can also be integrated, such as the S for Style (that will include a specific heading to help students better locate themselves in the lesson.

Jeff

Considering the persona of a student who has accessibility challenges, one of them being short-sighted, a lesson could be designed around the E for Evaluation (in SLIDE) to check if all aspects are being cared for: description of images to help the student conjure up an image of what is being presented, which will also be an input to build language repertoire (possible positive outcome: children being better able to autonomously describe a picture themselves). This is a curb cut because other students who are not short-sighted, but have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), for instance, or even are in a bilingual context and are struggling to learn a second language could benefit from the description used in the alternative text, and also build language repertoire. Furthermore, if one of the goals is to develop the skill of simultaneous reading, that is, reading the text and also the image, with alternative text, students can better access this skill. 

I think that closed captions and transcripts would fall under the "I" in SLIDE. I think that captions and transcripts are super helpful as a curb cut so that you can 'watch' and 'listen' videos anywhere - in a crowd, with your 3-year-old crying because you wouldn't let her wear her tap shoes, at a gym, etc.  I always have closed captions on at home and am also hoping that my kiddos gain some literacy knowledge!  

I see my students using the transcripts and closed captions when they either can't watch the video due to poor internet connection or because they forgot their headphones and can't play the sound. 

I in Slide
I think people are beginning to grasp that alt text is needed, but it shouldn't include information that is already described in the text, or information that is not described in the text. The concept of "Long description text" seems like a great curb cut. It's not just for screen readers, but it also helps people who are new to the subject and don't understand the image, or for people who are not especially visual learners. I recently had this discussion with a well-known OER mentor, and felt I needed to correct him. What he was going to use as alt text would not be apparent to those not using screen readers but had additional information.

I have to echo Dani's post about color contrast and Design.  Design should make the consumption of the content easier; Design should minimally impact a person's cognitive load.  We all have CL thresholds, Designing for ease of use makes consumption and interaction with content easier for all and let's the consumer/user expend more energy on the content rather than deciphering the design.