How an easy-to-use razor helped a shave brand lead the way in social media accessibility

(BPT) - For anyone living with visual impairment, routine tasks that might pose a challenge can be made easier with the right tools, making daily life less stressful and allowing everyone to live their lives to the fullest. Digital Content Creator Molly Burke, a YouTuber, motivational speaker, author, and commercial model who is blind, partnered with Schick Intuition to help get the word out about using more accessible and inclusive approaches to social media content.

The partnership with Burke came about when Schick discovered that their Intuition Sensitive Care Razor was viewed as a useful tool by blind or visually impaired women, who have found that the 2-in-1 razor is easy to use. Since the razor lathers and shaves in one easy step — removing the need for shaving cream, soap or body wash — it's easier to shave by touch, making it much easier to use. Burke has also created Instagram videos on everything from fashion, beauty and lifestyle tips to her latest video, which helps viewers understand better online accessibility and inclusion for people with visual disabilities.

After learning that their product serves this purpose for women who are blind or have low vision, Schick Intuition sought ways to ensure that all their consumers were able to easily engage with the brand. They turned to Burke for tips on how to make their social media content accessible and thought these tips could help anyone looking to make their social media more inclusive.

Here are some of Burke’s tips for making your social media content more inclusive and accessible for the visually impaired:

• Use alt text: Always include alt text or an accessibility description on still images. For readers of your content who use a screen reader (software programs that read aloud or provide braille output for digital text and image content), alt text provides a brief description of the photo or other image from your post or article that they may not be able to see, allowing people who are blind or have low vision to understand your content more fully. On Instagram, you can find this setting by going through the process of uploading a photo, and right before you hit “Share”, scroll down to “Advanced Settings” and scroll down to “Accessibility”. From there you can choose to “Write Alt Text.”
  
  
• Caption or narrate video: Use proper captions and video descriptions for Instagram Story and video content. In addition, for any video content, adding descriptive narration where needed can help anyone with a visual disability understand your video content better.
  
  
• Use CamelCase: This refers to the capitalization of each word in a compound word such as a hashtag. Using CamelCase capitalization for hashtags makes it easier for these software programs to read the words correctly. Screen readers often cannot identify the individual words in a hashtag without it.
  
  
• Choose fonts with care: Ensure readability of the fonts that are chosen for any online content. Sans serif fonts (like Arial or Calibri) are much easier to read than serif fonts (like Times New Roman). Be mindful of color contrast as well as the size of text overlays on images and videos to make them as readable as possible.

Schick Intuition is making a commitment to follow all of the above accessibility strategies on its social channels, including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The company is also working with the American Foundation for the Blind to further develop these guidelines, and will work closely with them on all of their future programming to ensure inclusion and accessibility moving forward.

Learn more about Molly Burke’s tips for making social media content accessible from her Instagram video.