Disability Pride Month: Accessibility Tips for Authors

When it comes to diversity (and equity and inclusion), I have found that disability tends to be one of the most often-overlooked identities to be welcomed and accounted for. That’s really strange to me, because more than 1 in 6 people worldwide have a disability of some sort. But disabilities range in their visibility, and with so much stigma, many people who can hide their disability status do—especially in the workplace. Accessibility for authors and beyond should be second-nature, but too many people never think of it or may not know where to start.

That’s why it’s important for me to commemorate Disability Pride Month, which has been celebrated in one form or another since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, according to the National Health Council.  

Full disclosure: I have invisible disabilities. Eight years ago, I finally sought answers for my mental health and was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Today, my disabilities are well controlled thanks to a careful mix of medication and lifestyle changes, but I still need to devote quite a bit of my energy into managing my conditions. One night, I fell asleep before taking my medication, and I was an absolute mess for days afterwards. After I plan and host a party, I crash for several days because my anxiety takes such a toll on me. And don’t even get me started on how executive dysfunction complicates the everyday maintenance of my home.

So, as part of Disability Pride Month, I wanted to put together some suggestions for writers to improve the accessibility of their books and their platforms for people with a wide range of visible and invisible disabilities. Not sure what authors have to do with accessibility? Read on and find out.

Chapter Breaks: Function for the Dysfunctional

 A publishing and writing group I’m in was discussing how to title chapter breaks, and I was shocked to see someone saying that they didn’t care if a book had chapter breaks at all. She said she didn’t notice them because she tends to read straight through them anyway.  

For me, having chapters that are too long makes it impossible for me to focus—even if I’m reading for hours at a time. Several years after I graduated from college, a former professor of mine sent me a sample of several chapters of her book (which was fantastic by the way) and asked me for feedback. The writing was sensitive, riveting, and deep, if a bit more academic than I prefer for my pleasure reading. But I was too embarrassed to tell her I couldn’t finish it. The chapters were over 50 pages each, and despite knowing that it would only take me an hour to read each one, it felt like being asked to climb the Mt. Everest of concentration. If I picked up a book with no chapters at all, it’s highly unlikely that I’d even attempt to read it (unless it was poetry, since I tend to think of each poem as its own little self-contained chapter).

So when I saw that discussion in my writing group, I was blown away. Another person chimed in with a similar experience to mine, and it turns out we both have issues with executive function.

Coincidence? I think not.

Font Choice: Comprehension Aids for Dyslexic Readers + Others

My debut, The Great Quiet, is set in a font called Museo Slab, because that font is considered highly legible for people with reading difficulties like dyslexia. Fonts that are hard to read can also make your work more difficult to comprehend for people who are reading in their second language—context clues that may help native speakers decipher similar words can be much harder for non-native speakers of a language to pick up on, especially in titles or in sections of text that rely heavily on understanding cultural references.

Part of formatting for self-publishing includes choosing what font to set your manuscript in. This choice is about more than just aesthetics. It’s also about authors improving accessibility for readers. Consider the standard spacing between letters and how that compares to the standard spacing between words. This helps ensure that words don’t just bleed into a mesh of incomprehensible alphabet soup. While there are options for adding more space between individual words, this is a time-consuming process if you need to do it for more than just a few words.

 Another consideration: for readers with dyslexia or other reading disabilities, serif fonts are easier to read. This is because the loops and points of a serif font (as opposed to the smooth lettering of sans serif fonts) actually help point the reader’s eye in the direction of the next letter. Not only does this support readers with disabilities—it reduces eye fatigue for everyone reading your work.

Website Structure: Context for Low-Vision Folks + More

Authors can do a lot to support people with disabilities in the choices they make with their book design, but accessibility doesn’t stop there. Consider how accessible your platform as a whole is—there are a number of free accessibility checkers for websites that will provide personalized recommendations in a matter of a minute or two. The Web Accessibility Initiative offers a comprehensive checklist to get you started by identifying what to look for in your website.

Alt text is a simple tool that is often overlooked. Having a description for images you use throughout your site improves accessibility for people who are blind or low-vision. It also provides a positive boost for your website’s SEO by giving search engine crawlers better context for the files they encounter on your website.

Another simple accessibility improvement? Make sure your links describe what they are linked to. Screen readers may move all links to the bottom of a text, so if your links are variations of “click here,” then people using screen readers will be missing key context and not know where to go next. Plus, having keyword-rich anchor text is another big bonus for your website’s SEO strategy.

Accessibility truly is better for everyone.

Getting Social: Welcoming Disabled People into the Community 

While social platforms like Instagram or Facebook may be more out of your control than your author website, there are still a number of key things you can do to improve the experience disabled people have with your posts and your community.

For a while, I thought that people who would Capitalize Each Word In A Hashtag were simply out of touch with the latest trends, but it turns out that doing so makes your hashtags WAY easier to read and understand. There are times when I still mess up and forget, but making the effort is important. 

And then there’s alt text. Though not all platforms make it easy to add alt text to images, you should always add it if you can and / or write an image description below your post text. Image descriptions don’t have to be extremely detailed or lengthy in order to be effective—in fact, some people with low vision prefer short descriptions due to the length of time it takes for a screen reader to go through too much text. If you share an image consisting of a joke over a busy background, it’s OK to relate the text and then add a passing note about the background. Too much detail about irrelevant aspects of a background can reduce accessibility, especially if someone has attention issues in addition to low vision.

Another way to make your page or channel more accessible to people with disabilities is to actively monitor your followers’ conversations on your posts. Be quick to educate those who are knowingly or unknowingly stigmatizing people with disabilities, and ban anyone who is verbally abusive or otherwise dangerous to those with disabilities. This might seem like a no-brainer, but stigma for disabilities can be so ingrained in our collective psyche that it’s hard to spot. For example: I’ve been trying like hell to stop using the words “insane” or crazy” to mean something sounds outlandish, because that’s othering people with mental health problems… like me! Giving gentle reminders about inappropriate language and quickly removing comments that joke about triggers like self-harm can make your community much safer and more welcoming to people with disabilities on a deep, genuine level.

For in-person events, accessibility may look like hiring certified sign language interpreters or ensuring your event can be reached without using stairs. More innovative ideas that can support people with autism or anxiety include having a quiet or sensory-friendly area that people can use to decompress when, for example, they are overstimulated or at risk of a panic attack.

These may at times be cumbersome to implement, but accessibility becomes second-nature after you practice for a while. Just be sure to pace yourself and understand that progress is more sustainable than perfection.

Final Thoughts: Keep Disability On the Mind

Recognizing and actively considering the diverse needs of your audience will only serve to improve the experience for all of your fans. Consider the parent pushing a stroller who would benefit from a wheelchair ramp, or the person on the bus watching your TikToks on mute because they forgot their headphones, who is grateful for the accurate subtitles. Accessibility will always yield side benefits for able-bodied folks, even if absolutely no one in your audience is disabled (and I highly doubt that).

Not only is disability an extremely common experience, but it’s impossible to tell just by looking at someone what they will need. Even people whose needs you’ve identified previously may need more or less support on any given day, or more or less support than someone else with the same diagnosis. That’s because disabilities are dynamic and unique to each individual.

So, plan out your platform, your work, and your events with accessibility in mind. Your readers will thank you.