I rbg posts with image descriptions to make them more accessible

I may not personally agree with the OP of the posts I ID. I am aiming for accessibility- not censorship. I support LGBTQ rights, anti-racism, and disability justice.

[softstuffs]

About! (Pinned post)

Hi!!

Adult (20+) - worm enjoyer and furry drawer. multimedia artist. counseling major.

I go by Mono (Bones or Soft is also ok!) I'm a silly little creature that makes art on the internet

Agender/nonbinary - They/ey/ae

I like worms, bugs, cats, Animal Jam, Warrior Cats, Minecraft, Sonic, Kingdom Hearts, UTMV, and all sorts of art!

Multitude of mental illness + chronic fatigue means I sometimes dip from the internet for a bit. If I don't reply to a comment/ask that's probably why

Main blogs are @ssoft-boness and @softstuffs Sideblogs:

@softbones-ids - Reblogging posts with image descriptions + disability focused posts

@softbones-sparkclan - Clangen OC blog

⚠This blog contains bright colors and flashing images.

[ao3commentoftheday]

Do you know of any way to include 𝓒𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓯𝓪𝓷𝓬𝔂 𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓸𝓭𝓮 𝓽𝓮𝔁𝓽 in a fic in a way that is friendly to screen readers?

I'm gonna be a bit of a Debbie Downer for a second and point out that it's not just people who use screen readers who have difficulty with those fonts. It's also people with dyslexia, lower reading comprehension, lack of familiarity with cursive or fancy fonts, and non-native speakers.

I myself am none of the above, but I still can't read more than one or two words of either strikethrough or Zalgo text before I can feel a strain in my eyes.

For those who are able to visually read the words, I'll explain what the issue is with screen readers. Fancy Unicode Text isn't actually text. It's letters formed by unicode symbols that were created for use in, for example, mathematical equations. Each of those symbols has a name, and a screen reader will read out each "letter"'s name instead of reading the whole word. I'll put an example below, as an image, to save people who are using screen readers to read this post (there's a brief alt text though).

example courtesy of https://givemefonts.com/blog/accessibility-in-unicode

So, now that everyone is up to speed on the question, I have one question and two possible solutions.

The question: What is the purpose of using the fancy unicode text?

First possible solution: If you just want to be able to differentiate the font and/or colour of text within a fic, you can do that with a work skin and leave the text fully readable by screen readers. Here's one that was created for Undertale and has a whole bunch of web safe fonts you can switch between. There's one for Homestuck as well. And a third workskin that does lots of formatting, including fonts and colours.

Second possible solution: If you're going for a specific look that can only be achieved by fancy unicode text, then you might want to include that as an image and set the image's alt text to be the plain text version.

Let's open it up to see if anyone else has ideas, though! I'm certain someone else has run into the conundrum before.

[joleneghoul]

i think censoring subtitles is actually ableism

[borealing]

news about pcos today

‘Unprecedented’ global effort gives new name to polycystic ovary syndrome – and new hope to millions of women

Decades-long campaign powered by patient perspectives results in switch from PCOS – a name that caused confusion and undue suffering – to PM

a health policy paper has been published saying the name is officially updated to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS)

polyendocrine= multiple endocrine factors

metabolic = affecting/affected by metabolism

ovarian = from the ovaries

essentially, instead of using the symptomatic term (many people with PMOS do not develop cysts) the new term widens the diagnostic area and makes it easier to diagnose, treat, and do research on people with PMOS (even atypical types, such as no cysts).

it may seem like a waste of time to change a name instead of focusing on research, but for a lot of medical professionals a name can be associated with a hard set collection of symptoms, so the name needs to change to acknowledge that the disorder is not well understood and has a broader, subtler, and often missed set of symptoms. for example ADD is considered an antiquated/unused term, and now comes under the ADHD umbrella. in healthcare names and terminology changes all the time, and this is a positive change. your local healthcare professional may not know about this unless theyre really up on the news though!

in case you want to read about the name change process that was published in the Lancet (one of the most impactful and well respected medical journals):

Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, the new name for polycystic ovary syndrome: a multistep global consensus process

Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), previously named polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), affects one in eight women. However, the

[catchymemes]

[yorickalas]

For information, I used to prefer reading but now that my brain is broken and falling apart, I can no longer parse long sentances and paragraphs so I have to listen to stuff. Reading, viewing, and listening light up different parts of the brain and one way may be a lot more understandable to someone than another. Just sayin.

[mossdftba]

Videos should have captions and transcripts, and articles should have audio options! It's 2026 and accessibility is easier than ever!

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

he's going through a hair dye phase (sleeping in a berry patch)

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

feels like some of u aren't properly appreciating the fact that he sleeps in a berry patch. and he rolls over and squishes the berries into his fur. because he's so sleepy and content.

[doing-90mph-in-central-london]

maybe people think he's an ugly dog but just to be clear he is actually a beautiful pig

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [ A topdown photo of a fluffy tawny pig with sparse black spots standing in a patch of grass, eating out of a tray. Scattered in the pig's fur are pinky-red blotches, which are berry juice stains.] End ID.

[slowspinningredemption]

incredible things happening on reddit right now

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [A series of screenshots from a Reddit thread.] Image 1: [A picture of an extremely, horrendously dirty shower where the surfaces have turned grey and black from the layers of filth. OP asks: "AIO for wanting to immediately break up with my bf after seeing how he lives?"] Image 2: [User PracticalAd675 comments: "Does he live in a Siberian labor camp? What the nasty hell." It has 442 likes. User Tatasz replies: "I'm from Siberia, and our living conditions are much better, including labor camps. We are equally disgusted by this shit." A third user, DismalSoil9554 replies: "Thank you Siberia for weighing in on this matter and confirming this shower is indeed unacceptable."] Image 3: [User Slipcommerical5083 says: "Girl he's going to give you the worst yeast infection of your life!!!! GET OUT." The words "get out" are in all caps and the T's repeat.] Image 4: [User Chesterfieldraven comments: "Is he a prisoner of war?"]

End ID.

[todaysbird]

he is blogging

[paperplanechemtrails]

[softbones-ids]

Image description:

Post 1: [A white rat is learning over the keyboard of a laptop on someone's bed, staring at the screen.]

Post 2: [A screenshot from the tags in a reblog that read: "He is clearly playing the Sims 4. Don't ever lie to me again."] End ID.

[deadsignaltv]

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [A photo of an old box TV in a dark room. The nighttime lighting is blue. The screen is bright blue with white text. "No wonder you can't sleep." The word sleep is light blue.]

End ID.

[soft-stims]

[lesbian-toddhoward]

[softbones-ids]

Image Description:

Video: [An ASMR video of a person crushing realistic clay apples. The apples pop and crackle.]

Screenshot: [A Tumblr user with a stormtrooper avatar made two comments. The word "APPLES" has been edited into the first. It says: "MY APPLES." "YOU FUCKING WHORE." In all caps.]

End ID

[millenniumitem]

new favorite reddit user

[angel-demiel]

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [A reblog chain of images.]

Image 1: [A screenshot of Reddit user Pknoko37's post to R/grilledcheese. "Day 155 of posting grilled cheese sandwiches until I run out of cheese types: Belton Farms, Sage Derby. It has 45 likes and 5 comments.]

Image 2: [A screenshot from Pkonko37's post. User lobo_locos asks: "Are you making this in a commercial kitchen?" OP replies "Yea, I work as a cheese specialist at a local grocery store." User Sativaslut replies: "Professional grilled cheeser yessir." OP replies: "There are 150+ on our order guide. I'm trying to see how many I can turn into grilled cheese."

Image 3: [A screenshot of the tags Neosatsuma left on their reblog. "Real life Sims 2 guy with the grilled cheese aspiration."]

End ID

[clowniconography]

the funniest thing to me about the Afroman lawsuit situation is the fact that the cops involved clearly just thought that they could discreetly get a payday off of a video that left the news like four full years ago. instead they're getting made fun of again, by even more people this time, including people who never would have heard of Afroman in the first place were it not for the lawsuit. now Afroman gets even more good press and he also won the suit so the cops get jack shittttt

[virtualmistwizard]

I think the cops shorted him a couple hundred from the money they stole..but yeah..he made it back in those viral videos and he's going on tour to get MOREEE plus I'm sure those legal fees a bitch. EITHER WAY I am LOVING this runnn!!

[softbones-ids]

[Image description: A gif of two black performers on stage. One shouts something into their microphone and they both lift their arms in cheer. The caption reads "Give it up for black people!"] End ID

[ominous-signs]

Old Man Jeff Is Here! Spotted in Pittsfield Massachusetts

[softbones-ids]

[Image Description: A passing photo of an outlet mall sign at Porter Plaza. The signs read, from top to bottom: "Subway", "Johnnie's Superstore" "WINDOWS", "OLD MAN JEFF IS HERE", and "Johnnie's Deli." "OLD MAN JEFF IS HERE" is in all caps black text on a neon yellow backdrop."] End ID.

[fuwungi]

𓂏.𖥔 ݁ ˖

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [A transparent PNG of a plastic bead necklace. It alternates between pale pink beads and white beads shaped like human teeth.] End ID

[pusheen]

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: An animated gif of the Pusheen cat in a pastel kitchen with a surface in the foreground. There's a glass bowl in the center. Pusheen jumps up onto the counter, tilts the bowl around with their paw, and jumps inside. They twist around in the bowl and smile. Their pawpads can be seen in the glass.] End ID.

[quietcountrycafe-deactivated201]

[softbones-ids]

Image Description: [A gifset up 6 upright cats doing various things and smiling cheerily.]

Gif 1: [a yellow cat holding a fish over its head flips back and forth.]

Gif 2: [a yellow cat with a pink bowtie dancing.]

Gif 3: [a calico cat holding a pink flower flips back and forth.]

Gif 4: [a brown tabby cat flips back and forth holding a pink umbrella as it rains.]

Gif 5: [A brown cat leaning on one foot flips back and forth.]

Gif 6: [A cream cat holding a rose flips back and forth]

End ID

[actingwithportals]

The terrible tumblr reblog update announcement is as good a time as any to really insist that people start including their own IDs/ALT text to their image/art posts. Leaving that effort to someone else to add in a reblog will only serve to either lose you notes or discourage people from reblogging that addition in order to try and maintain the notes in your activity. Either way, someone loses. Include your own IDs/ALT text in your original post.

[softstuffs]

100%! I promise it's not that hard or scary and it really helps a lot.

Here's some helpful guides you can reference! :3

How to Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the visually impaired

The ultimate guide on how to write alt text and image descriptions for the visually impaired, written by someone with low vision who uses al

^ helpful infographic sourced from this article!

Writing Image Descriptions

Tips on how to write effective image descriptions to make visuals accessible.

Alternative (Alt) Text is an essential part of making content accessible. When adding images, charts, icons or other graphic elements, alt t

For years I didn't ID my own art/posts because I was nervous about wording things incorrectly or doing it "wrong" and making it harder for others to understand. But something is better than nothing! Just a few sentences and it makes your post 100x more inclusive. 💗 Once you get going at it it just becomes a habit!