Social Media

[Sally426]

Social media and accessibility!

We all use the internet; for things like social media, shopping online, looking for jobs and applying online or booking a covid test, some people find it hard to use due to the way the website is.

I say it's important for websites to be clear in its delivery and words to be in large font and they could use easy read for people who find it hard to read and understand what is on it.

Also, the websites should be safe and have the s in the website address so there won't be any harm with hacking especially if you put card details in for buying things or your address or your benefit details for a website or your address if you are registering in a website.

But being able to use one and making it work for you is a stressful task for some including me, I found a way to remember but even sometimes I can forget but I manage to deal with this, but some people don’t manage to as the website aren't always flexible for mistakes.

Although they are so efficient with security it can be off-putting, especially with the I am a robot bit and looking for things in pictures that are in the USA to tick and say I am human, strange that.

As an internet user, I come across logging in a lot, I try and get it right and usually do but if I get it wrong it worries me to be honest but best to reset the password, I sometimes remember though or write it secretly somewhere and it helps me be quicker in using the internet to do what is needed in my life.

Also, some websites have too much writing and less pictures, so it’s harder to understand what is be said. I think social media apps can be easier to work, most of the time than websites work quite well for me especially the NHS one that is crucial these days for Covid-19 testing or booking a vaccine, the 1st or 2nd one or finding out about other pandemics like HIV and aids.

So, website companies including social media must make their platforms accessible for all so we can enjoy using it and doing important things like applying for a job or tweeting on Twitter and all people can have the pleasure of using this for their use's whatever ability, age or needs, the internet was the bridge to communicating in this covid era and getting food and medical appointments .and tests and films and tv and radio while in lockdown so really it shouldn't be difficult to navigate around especially for people with a learning disability or anything else that inhibits their reading and writing

[LDAutie]

hi Sally426 ,

i completely agree, i think every website-especially companies with money backing behind them,shoud use something like widgit point software, im not sure if you know of this software? but when its installed correctly on a server,if a person hovers their mouse icon over a word a easy pictorial of that word appears over it-this is next generation internet browsing for non readers,visual thinkers, people who struggle to process language and ESOL, but unfortunately its not cheap- especially not for big sites like mencaps main site.

its annoying how things designed to make life more acessible is making themselves inacessible because of cost.

in terms of social media, ive got software called OSSN (open source social network) installed on my server,ive been slowly building a portal of sites for other learning disabled people and carers since december 2020-nothing as good as mencap-app recommendations, how to avoid cyber bullying,helpful organisations,best places to go on holiday/shop etc,and unless me or the widgit team are doing something wrong, point wont work with social networks as it uses infinite changing pages and point is aimed at static websites,its very difficult adapting social network software itself unless you are a coder (i cant even code HTML).

it is possible to make social network apps with learning disability in mind if you have the coding skills or...the money to afford expensive easy software like appypie.

plus....the money to put the software onto the iOS app store (costs quite a lot) the android app store (not surprising costs less than apples one),but these need hardcore monitoring from a wide range of staff who can spot different things which ive noticed does not happen in existing network apps for LD out there.

you mentioned passwords,have you thought of getting a portable hard drive to keep your passwords on? you woudnt have to write what the password is for,you coud call it a code word that you woud definitely know,like for example- amazon coud be 'am' or 'smile' (because their logo looks like a smile,im in the middle of e-arguing with my appointee for a pro gaming portable hard drive at the moment so its just given me the idea- there are lots of reliable quality basic ones out there like western digital,seagate,toshiba etc ,you can get them from around £40-50 for basic versions and store your passwords on it,you can go as far as ALSO password protecting the hard drive with something only you can definately remember without any prompts.

as for the secure sign on websites-its still possibe to break into a website even if a site says its secure theres a common form of server exploit used by blackhat hackers called SQLi (SQL injection,its injecting a bit of code into a bit more code)-any website that relies on using databases is at risk from SQLi-so the cure is to make sure to keep database software up to date as this patches up holes in the code.

as for the captcha/recaptcha function (the really annoying 'i am not a robot' thing), it stops bots registering on your site-these can be quite dangerous but also just annoying and end up silencing communities or websites,i didnt use captcha once years ago on a phpBB site of mine and ended up having lots of bots all linking to bad websites,which then linked my site with them on google-not great,but i didnt know what to do,a friend had designed and set the site up for me, but at the same time this function can stop learning disabled people acessing the site,and i agree with you it really annoys me when i come across captcha/recaptcha as i have to get one of my support staff to do it for me.

[Sally426 in reply to LDAutie]

Thanks for the information I sorted passwords out 😀

[Sikabum]

I totally agree with LDAutie about the captcha thing! It irritates me so freakking much that I don't even want to enter a website/forum because of that(( I mean, I already deleted my account on facebook and instagram because these social media are so toxic, people there only write neative comments to spoil user's mood. I only use these social networks to promote my business accounts. Now I'm also trying to figure out how to post on tiktok, and this blog onlypult.com/blog/promotion... helps me a lot in that.