Last week I had the great fortune of attending the 2018 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. The conference was produced by NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network. It was my first time attending such an event, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It turned out to be an amazing experience, so I’m writing a series of blog posts highlighting things I learned and/or found interesting about the conference.

Here are five things I learned about accessibility at #18NTC:

1. We need to be thinking about accessibility with all of our electronic and written communication, this includes emails, social media channels, presentations, and event invitations and information.
2. We don’t mean to exclude people, but we do – and often.
3. Don’t dismiss profiles with default photos as spammers or newbies. Many with visual disabilities don’t have profile photos. Don’t overlook them.
4. Screen readers cannot read text on an image. Possible solutions include not using text on an image, making sure there is text description near the picture, or providing a link to a plain text description of the image.
5. If you “camel case” hashtags it makes it easier for screen reading technology to interpret the text. I am going to endeavor to #CamelCase my #HashTags from now on.