37: Thinking Beyond Transcripts: How to Make Accessible Digital content with Jennifer Brown

What would you do if you knew your content wasn’t reaching 20% of your audience?

In today’s episode, we talk with Deaf writer and disability rights activist Jennifer Brown. As Jennifer explains, most disabled people come into activism through necessity, not desire. She and many others have spent their lives fighting for accessibility to things that many of us take for granted. Things like education. Healthcare. Entertainment. 

And digital content.

The adult disabled community accounts for over 20% of the population. That is over 1 in 5 people who rely on things like captions and screen readers just to live their lives.

Is your content accessible? Or are you missing out on touchpoints with a large part of your audience?

If we want to #DoBetterDigital, then we have to create content that our ENTIRE audience can access.

That could be the blind woman. The deaf man. The mom watching your live video while her baby sleeps. The student learning English by reading captions. 

Accessibility isn’t about being “PC.” Accessibility is about being better. 

Being a better digital marketer.

Being a better business owner.

Being a better human. 

In today’s episode, Jennifer tells us exactly what we need to do to #DoBetterDigital. And if you think you just can’t afford to create accessible content? Jennifer has an answer for that too. 

Listen now.

• [6:37] Jennifer’s biggest wish in terms of accessibility and activism
• [8:43] The number one thing people can do to help create a more accessible society
• [11:19] How businesses are hurting their bottom line by not being more accessible
• [13:17] Some simple first steps every business can take to become more accessible to their audience
• [14:48] Why you should pay special attention to alt text for images to make it truly useful
• [18:35] How hashtags are a stumbling block for accessibility - and a simple fix!
• [21:20] How the cost of ADA-compliance is the cost of doing business, just like compliance with any other law.
• [26:10] The best way to make podcasts accessible for the deaf community
• [39:27] How accessibility and equity are intersectional and cover multiple types of experience 

• Follow Jennifer on Twitter and Instagram
• Find out more about Jennifer and her work in Disability Justice
• View the “WAP” ASL cover signed by a Black Deaf woman on Twitter
• Read more about the controversy surrounding the viral music interpreter issue
• Learn more about the Dear Grown Ass Women community
• Don’t miss an episode of season 4 of Small Stage, Big Impact