There is no liberation without disability liberation. This is not just a slogan. It needs to be praxis. I implore you to include disabled people in your messaging by using descriptive alt text.
It is much easier to trust that solidarity will flow in both to and fro – which is the only way solidarity actually works – when disabled comrades are included in conversations and calls to action.
It is much easier to believe that someone understands that liberation *must* include rejecting colonial, white supremacist, patriarchal standards when I can perceive efforts to actively include disabled people.
I am a disabled person who at times relies on alt text to parse images (with my dynamic disability, my needs can vary from day to day), and I am asking you:
When you post, practice solidarity with your disables comrades. Solidarity means alt text!
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#altText #solidarity #solidarityMeansAltText #disabilityLiberation #anarchism
Here's a resource for writing descriptive alt text:
https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-make-posts-more-accessible-to-blind-people-on-mastodon-and-the-fediverse/
There's also the tried and true method of listening to blind folks on your timeline and other folks who need alt text! They will tell you what they need and want in alt text.
And here's some nuance (though by no means all the nuance):
I know that there are disabled people who are not able to add alt text to their images.
On some days I am one of those people. On some days I'm the one who needs the alt text, not the one who can write it.
(My disability is dynamic: how severe it is differs from day to day, and some days are Very Bad.)
On days when I cannot write alt text, I choose not to post images and wait for a day when I can. I know that for some people there are no days when they can.
Another choice is to ask for help writing alt text, using #Alt4You or otherwise.
I also know that in desperate moments alt text can seem like too much, even for people who otherwise could write it. I implore you to reclassify alt text as not an extra, but as a central part of messaging, and ask for help: #Alt4You
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#altText #solidarity #solidarityMeansAltText #disabilityLiberation #anarchism
