With political parties getting ready for a General Election this year, you may be aware of more literature and leaflets popping through your letter box from the ever hopeful candidates. But how accessible have prospective MPs made their publications to the blind and those with sight loss?

On Saturday 23 March, RNIB – Royal National Institute of Blind People in Scotland – will be calling for candidates to start making the small changes to their online content which can make campaigning more inclusive of blind and partially sighted constituents.

Many people with sight loss use software on their devices which reads out what is on screen. These screen readers can dictate text, but they can only describe images when there has been alternative text, known as ALT-text, added.

Like this:

All social media platforms give users the chance to add ALT text to describe the picture they are posting. It only takes a few additional seconds, and it means a blind or partially sighted person can hear a summary of what is featured in the image. Where there are words within an image, adding ALT text can also help blind and partially sighted people from missing out on key information.  

Political parties and candidates can also make their hashtags more accessible. Screen readers can sometime confuse words which are written together #likethis, but capitalising the first letter of each word #LikeThis, known as camel case, ensures the words are read out separately by screen readers. This simple style change can help make tweets easier to understand for blind and partially sighted voters. 

James Adams, Director of RNIB Scotland, explained: 

“For blind & partially sighted people, being able to engage with the democratic process is a fundamental human right. With social media communications now a key aspect of political parties campaigning, it is crucial that they include blind & partially sighted people by adding descriptions to images through alt text.  

“Inclusive campaigning never cost any candidate a vote.” 

And here’s some guidance which is free to download – not just for political candidates: