But shouldn’t they expect the same kind of functionality as others? If we see these features as a luxury, it
might not seem like a big deal, but for the increasingly large number of people who use Twitter for work,
it’s anything but that. And therein lies the problem. Social media is part of the modern work environment;
when it exclude disabled people, that’s yet another completely avoidable barrier obstructing our ability to
do our jobs.
It also exacerbates social isolation. In 2017, a report by the charity Sense found that half of disabled people
experience chronic loneliness, with 26 per cent of non-disabled people actively avoiding interacting with us.
Social media offers a great solution to that by taking away physical barriers and offering access to a vastly
larger pool of potential friends – but not if we can’t access them. Issues with online activity are often seen as
trivial but they have real world effects.
How can these problems be resolved? Designers need to consult disabled users much earlier in the design
process. They also need to shift their focus, to put less emphasis on aesthetics (despite what advertisers may
demand) and more on how users actually interact with their products. They need to think about issues like
the amount of movement or the number of clicks needed to complete basic tasks and – across social media
platforms as a whole – they need to be much better at accommodating screen readers.
They also need to stop burying access information just because they have concluded that only a small
proportion of their users will need it. The more one struggles with access in general, the harder it is to trawl
around the web in search of advice on hidden shortcuts – they need to be clear and obvious in settings
menus. Despite what some people seem to think, disabled people are not all members of a secret club with
instant access to such information. What’s more, a lot of non-disabled people also find it helpful.
Access to social media is now a key aspect of access to a normal life. The revolution in communications has
the potential to do great things for inclusion and equality – as long as adequate care is taken not to leave
people behind.