important image description psa
hi! my name is cassie, iâm deaf, and my full-time job primarily involves working in disability access. iâm here with an important message about image and audio descriptions:
when youâre describing things for disabled people, you should not include your personal opinion on the thing youâre describing. even if itâs positive! you shouldnât describe things as âa beautiful paintingâ, âa gorgeous photoâ, âa wonderful songâ, etc. i mean, if youâre sighted, think about how annoying it would be if every. single. picture you saw online was captioned with âthis is beautiful and you like thisâ or âthis is ugly and you hate itâ, with the expectation that you have to agree with whatever the caption says and your own opinion doesnât matter. it would be super annoying, right!
not to mention, iâve seen people do this on pictures of real people, which can get weirdâespecially if theyâre in a marginalized group youâre not in, in which case it can start to feel very fetishizing.Â
good descriptions: âa realistically-rendered oil painting of a treeâ, âa selfie of a person with short blue hairâ, âa pencil sketch of taakoâ
bad descriptions: âa gorgeously realistic oil painting of a treeâ, âa selfie of an adorable person with short blue hairâ, âa fantastic pencil sketch of taakoâ
(i encourage reblogs on this, because this is a huge issue that iâd love to see people gain awareness of)