#& inclusion

[usindistress]

I previously worked in equipment repairs for many years and became a team leader and a trainer. Almost every female employee we had was in the top 10% for work ethic, written test scores and least training required. And for a very obvious reason, it was a male dominated field so the recruiters didn't funnel women to us unless they expressed a specific aptitude for the mechanical (engineering students, army motor pool, even an amateur racer). Whereas we got a fair number of men with the qualification "You're a big guy, you look like you could swing a sledge hammer." The ones who don't look like they belong are almost certainly the best among their demographic. (and even my caveat of "Almost every female employee" was a single case that I don't know how she got routed to repairs, she was more interested in getting high than learning or doing the job, so she didn't get past training.)

Opposing diversity is really about protecting white mediocrity.

If you see a room full of only white men, you know it's not about meritocracy.

[black-fist-order]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Saadia Mirza (@saadia___m)

[pointless-letters]

So the Royal Navy has decided to name its next submarine HMS Achilles instead of HMS Agincourt, and the stench of outrage, fag smoke and statins on the Daily Express letters page is overwhelming…

[seahorsepencils]

This guide is great! I especially love the last bit: "trying is always better than not trying." When I first started learning about alt text, I found the idea overwhelming, and sometimes I would conveniently "forget" to do it because it felt like a mini-writing assignment where doing it imperfectly meant I was bad at accessibility and inclusion.

But I think it's one of those things where practice is the only way to get good at it - so you have to give yourself permission to do it imperfectly. That ultimately makes it easier to learn and get in the habit of doing it regularly.

Since almost all the art and pictures I come across on Tumblr have no alt text, I figure maybe people don't understand what it's for or know how to use it. Here's an explanation!

What is alt text?

Some people (mostly blind people, but it can be useful for other disabilities too) use programs called screen readers to navigate the computer and read text aloud. That's why pictures need to have a text description (alt text), for the screen reader to read aloud. Alt text is usually hidden and just there for screen readers, though on this site, anyone can click the button in the bottom left corner to access it on any image that has it.

Why is it important?

Alt text makes the internet accessible for anyone using a screen reader. I used a screen reader for a while, so I can tell you how much it sucks to try and use social media only for every post to be like,

"This is the funniest thing I've ever seen!" (image with no alt text)

"This info is so important, everyone please read this!" (image with no alt text)

And then all the responses are agreeing and everyone is having fun and being social, but you can't join, you have no idea what's going on, you're left out of the fun, the cool stuff, the funny stuff, the important stuff, all of it.

How to add alt text?

On this site, when you upload an image, just click the three dots on the bottom right corner and click the option to update image description. You can also add it later by editing the post, if you forget when posting.

What to type?

I'm not the authority on alt text, so I can only give advice based on my experience as a sighted person and what people have told me.

One advice I've seen is to describe it like you're describing it to someone over the phone.

I think a good method is to start by stating the general, then moving onto details. I might start with, "Digital art of an octopus merman," and then go on to describe the pose, the emotion/facial expression, the body, the hair, the colors, the background.

Every screen reader user has different preferences, I've talked to people with completely opposing opinions. But usually someone can move on if they find there's too much description, whereas there's nothing they can do if there's not enough. So I lean toward over-describing.

Additionally, make sure you include anything referenced in your post. If you're just sharing a screenshot of a group of characters, you probably won't describe the shape of each of their noses. But if you say, "I love Bob's nose!" now you should still describe the overall picture but also include the shape of his nose in your description.

That also applies to things like, "This tree looks how I feel." If your alt text just says, "A leafy tree," that doesn't explain the feeling. "A leafy tree that appears to be hunched over with sagging branches, looking tired," is more helpful.

If there's text, include the text. I also like to give context (e.g. screenshot of a tweet). You can even use websites like this one to extract text for you.

Don't just put the word "image." Don't use alt text to credit artists/photographers. Don't use it for jokes, unless the joke is genuinely helping to describe the image.

And remember, trying is always better than not trying, even if your description isn't perfect!

[dirigibleplumbing]

if you love Christmas but also want to be kind and inclusive toward people who don't, or simply don't celebrate, here's my #1 tip.

stop lying about Christmas.

if the only "holiday" your holiday party includes is Christmas, call it a Christmas party.

if your "holiday" fandom event only uses Santa and Christmas graphics and is centered around the date of Christmas, call it a Christmas event (that is, presumably, open to non Christmas-celebrating fans).

if your "holiday" fic recs only contain Christmas fic, call it a Christmas rec list.

[catchymemes]

[ed-recovery-affirmations]

Body positivity absolutely must extend to disabled bodies. And that's disabilities of any kind. Disabilities by illness, disabilities by birth, acquired disabilities. Facial differences, limb differences, bodies that move atypically, adaptive tech and medical equipment that serves as a part of your body. If this is you, you deserve the space to navigate a complex relationship with your body. You deserve the tools to learn to love your unique body and make it feel loved. You deserve to be surrounded by people that truly love your body as it is.

(If you are disabled and are not able to love your body all the time, that's okay too. But you deserve to have the option; you deserve the tools to try.)

[lgbtqtext]

[cartoonverisimilitude]

Don’t use the phrase “Punch a Nazi” if you aren’t willing to work with Jewish people and actively educate yourself about antisemitism and how baked in it is in Western culture.

I see the phrase get tossed around a lot - usually when people are talking about far-right white supremacists and how their toxic views (rightfully) shouldn’t have a place in our society. But when I see people saying “Punch a Nazi,” rarely are they (actively) including Jewish people in the list of people who will be victims

[nonconformityhub]

Lesboy and Male Lesbian Infographic - repost from my friend thelesbianbakugou

Since his account got terminated a few years ago, me and thelesbianbakugou decided to replatform this lil info sheet! There's one on mspec lesbians too but we just have to find it

Sadly we don't have access to the original image credits, if you know who made some of the images, please let us know and we'll credit them here!

tags for reach woo! @mogai-place @mogai-sunflowers @neopronouns @genderqueerdykes @ghosttypebeat @our-lesboy-experience @transonlyspace @mogai-faggot @enbermoonlish

[codthefishgod]

To all the people who think aspec people aren't LGBTQIA+ because we aren't "discriminated against enough", here's a lovely list of reasons why you need to educate yourself:

- We suffer from dehumanisation, people actively devaluing or even erasing our humanity because of our identities (The voidpunk community is heavily supported by aspec people because of this)

- We suffer from self hatred due to feeling as if and being told we are broken, that no one can be happy unless they're in a romantic/sexual relationship, because of allonormativity and amatonormativity that actively damages our mental health

- Amatonormativity shapes laws that put us at an active disadvantage, such as giving married people financial and legal benefits

- Aspec people have been victims of conversion therapy, correctional rape, a lower quality of life, and other effects of being a marginalised and oppressed group

- We suffer from our identities being pathologised and deal with medical stigma because of this, causing many of us to feel unwelcome in and even avoid health care settings

- We suffer from our identities being erased, which can range from people completely denying our existence and people equating it to celibacy, to an almost complete absence of aspec representation in the media (It's been getting better lately, especially for alloaces and aroaces, but I have yet to ever see a canon aroallo character, and representation for those on the spectrum rather than in the extremes is often ignored)

- YOU are creating a hateful, exclusionary space in a community meant to be about inclusion. The same thing that happens to us happens to bisexual people, to polyamorous people, and other identities that are "disputed." In a community meant to be about rejecting the norm, YOU are shoving us out because we don't fit the norm of being LGBTQIA+. Because we're not enough like you.

These are only a few examples of aphobia that people like me deal with. Discrimination and oppression against aspec people stretches far beyond this.

But even if it didn't, it is disrespectful and harmful to everyone involved to gatekeep membership in the community based on oppression and discrimination.

We aren't LGBTQIA+ because we experience oppression. We are LGBTQIA+ because our existence alone goes against heteronormativity and other societal norms forced upon us.

[liberalsarecool]

Do Republican women wake up every morning and punch themselves in the face?

Make no mistake, going after DEI is going after white women. Paternalistic weak men shrouded in Trump clothing want to force women to stay in their place and out of the workforce.

The racism about DEI is how Republicans sell it to their dumbass electorate.

[relaxedstyles]

[fixing-bad-posts]

[Image description: A tumblr post, edited blackout-poetry style to read, “lesbian is an umbrella term! Lesbians like women. you can be a guy and a lesbian. you can use he/him pronouns and be a lesbian, be nice”]

—

lesbian 👏🏻 is 👏🏻👏🏻 an 👏🏻 umbrella 👏🏻 term! 👏🏻

Submitted by @lordchiefinjustice