Have you looked at my social media posts and wondered why I describe the image that’s attached? If you’re fully sighted you may not realize why this is important. Don’t worry, it has taken me a while to understand the importance of this and build it into my routine, too.
First, we need to understand that “blindness” is a spectrum. Some people are completely blind and others have low or obstructed vision. Not everyone who uses social media and the internet is able to see everything. Yes, blind people use the internet, too! Sighted people often don’t give this a second thought.
ID stands for “image description”. It’s quite literally a place to describe the important details of an image. People who use screen readers while browsing the internet will hear this description read out loud. This provides them with the same knowledge of what is on a page or post as sighted people. Even better is when the image description is able to share the feeling or vibe of the image more than just the physical details.
I have included both alt descriptions (a shorter version) and full image descriptions on most of my social media posts during this campaign because I am committed to including everyone in the conversation about municipal politics.
You’ll also hear me introduce myself at events with a visual description and my pronouns. The visual description is for the same reason as above–there could be people with low vision in the room wondering what I look like. Someone with low vision may not want to ask questions that would expose their disability in a crowd of people. And I share my pronouns even though they are typical of what one would expect to normalize the sharing of pronouns for those who do use different pronouns, to help them feel included and to make it less scary to state their pronouns.
Accessibility and inclusion are incredibly important to me as the mother of a daughter with multiple “invisible” disabilities. Bedford currently doesn’t offer a lot for her in terms of recreation, extra-curricular interests or employment. This is something I hope to change as Councillor for District 16.
We can be more inclusive!
Thank you for addressing the needs of our youth. A number of youth are involved in sports activities, but what about those who can’t or aren’t interested? I think teenagers need a place to gather, normalise, communicate with each other (not on the phone), play games (ping pong, pool, cards etc).. They need to be able to take positions of authority to learn and grow. As a teengager I was the treasure of the “Twixteen Club”. We had supervision on site but were allowed to govern ourselves. Admission was free and we ran a small canteen. It was very empowering to have our own “club” to attend. And it kept us off the streets.
Yes, Gillian, I agree our youth need more opportunities in Bedford! My two are now young adults, but I remember seeing all the “cool” things for them to do in other parts of town and not being able to get them there for a lot of it. We desperately need a new library (already in the works) and new indoor and outdoor recreation opportunities. One of the things I’d like to see is for the new library to have a social enterprise style cafe attached to it. Adults with disabilities could be working there during the day and youth could work there evenings and weekends. I’m also looking forward to the new pump track that Councillors Outhit and Lovelace have put in motion. And I’d love to see us find a place for a free outdoor skating rink.