The Joke

You've probably seen one of the latest Twitter memes doing the rounds.

There's black Text - " click here" - on a white background. And an arrow, pointing to the ALT image description label. Behind that, there's a joke or a punchline.

Brands including McDonald's (ALT: " Extra pickles life" ) and (ALT: " Ice Cold Red Bull" ) have jumped on the trend.

Just a bit of light-hearted content to make their followers laugh, right?

Well, not if you're blind or partially sighted and rely on alt Text to help you navigate Social Media .

Alt Text , short for alternative Text , provides a description of an image that can be used with accessibility features like screen readers.

Connor Scott-Gardner is blind and says the memes are really irresponsible and encourage misuse of alt Text .

" It actually took sighted people calling out the meme for blind people to even know what it was, " he tells BBC Newsbeat.

" Because we weren't knowing there was a picture there that said 'click here' and so you're excluded on that very fundamental level.

" It's very much a meme that is created for sighted people. "

What's more annoying for Connor is that so many of the brands jumping on the bandwagon don't even use alt Text in their other posts.

" Another layer to this is that you're seeing brands jumping on this meme who never had alt Text . And who have posted things since without alt Text , " he says.

" So it's very clear that they have no interest in including blind people or giving us access to information.

" They're only using that accessibility feature when it's convenient to them and brings something to their sighted followers. "

Connor says one brand he tweeted, McDonald's Canada, actually deleted their meme.

Another company, Specsavers, turned the trend on its Head .

, But used the alt Text to criticise others who'd used the meme for jokes.

They wrote: " Alt Text is a hugely important accessibility tool designed to help people navigate The Internet more easily, so it shouldn't be used as a punchline.

" This is especially true if the ALT Text doesn't describe The Image , leaving blind and visually impaired people out of The Joke . "

Becky Brynolf, who's The Head of Social Media at The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), agrees.

" Adding good alt Text is such a quick win, I'm really surprised that more people don't do it, " she says.

" Inclusive content is just good content. So you really shouldn't be excluding anyone, especially not for a joke.

" If you wouldn't take someone's guide cane to show off how well you can twirl it about, you absolutely shouldn't be misusing alt Text for the sake of a joke. "

Connor says alt Text is so important to him because so much content posted online relies on images.

" You think there are entire Social Media platforms like Instagram, which are image-based, " he says.

" And we share a lot of information through images, whether that's Text or through memes, whether we're making a joke or just through culturally significant things.

" So for me alt Text gives me access to all of that content, and it means that I'm able to have an equitable experience on The Web . "

So What can people do to make their tweets and other posts more accessible?

Becky says you can be really descriptive with your alt Text , because you have 1,000 characters to play with.

" I've been really disappointed by all The Tweets coming from the Met Gala , for example, that just Say Something like 'Jeremy Strong attends the Met Gala ', " she says.

" But what is he wearing? What's his facial expression? What's The Vibe like? Does he look happy to be there?

" Blind people want to hear about The Fashion too. So don't feel like people aren't interested just because they can't see the visuals.

" And just always think of accessibility as like a love note. Like it tells people we want you here as well. "

Newsbeat reached out to Twitter for a comment But it replied in the same way it does to all of the media,

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Source of news: bbc.com