Social Media’s Golden Globes Miss

A lesson in disability exclusion & media responsibility

Damn. It’s been a long time since I wrote one of these. But I’m angry and letting it all out.

I’m gonna level with you all — I don’t really watch awards shows anymore. I love finding out who wins, rooting for incredible creators, and even watching the acceptance speech later.

But what I *do* look out for, is the fashion! Oh my god the fashion. Billy Porter kills it every time, and Jennifer Coolidge is timeless. So I usually log into Twitter for red carpet purposes. Who doesn’t love a little glitz and glam?

What stood out to me more this year than perhaps in years past, is the utter lack of disability awareness or inclusion by media brands. I naively thought we had come a long way after CODA’s Oscar win, but that was a dumb thought on my part.

No, instead, what I saw was an endless number of media outlets and entertainment companies tweeting pictures without using alt text.

For those unfamiliar, alt text is an accessibility feature on websites and social media. The purpose is to make inaccessible photos accessible through image descriptions to blind and visually impaired people. Instagram and Facebook have features that auto-create the alt text for you. Twitter however, is a bit behind its competitors.

Nevertheless, brands at this point know how to use alt text and have been told numerous times why it’s so important. In fact, the Wall Street…