Making Memes Accessible

Introduction to Making Memes Accessible

Memes have become a part of culture and communication both online and off. Due to their visual nature, memes present major accessibility concerns for students who are blind or have low vision. While memes are usually considered unessential and solely for humor, their use often builds connections within the learning community; therefore, those who cannot glean the full meaning often feel left out.

 

Consider taking the Proactive Accessibility Certificate Workshop Series.

The Basics Of Making Memes Accessible

General Meme Guidelines:

1. Consider the context of the meme:
   1. Memes that rely heavily on knowledge of the source material can be inaccessible for anyone who is not familiar with the meme’s original source.
   2. These memes should almost always be removed due to the difficulty of making them accessible.
2. Currently, the best way to make memes accessible is to describe them with Alt-Text, meaning memes will need to be fully explained in 150 characters or less.
3. Alt-Text needs to explain both the text and the image to be accessible.
4. Repetition is best:
   1. Using the same base meme with different text is the best way for your students to access your memes.
   2. Using the most common base memes is another way to increase the accessibility of memes.

Writing Alt-Text:

1. Before trying to write Alt-Text for a meme, check the Common Memes section.
2. If your meme is not there, or if it is less common, answer these questions when writing the Alt-Text:
   1. Who are the character(s) in these memes?
   2. What actions are the characters performing, if any?
   3. What emotions or facial expressions do the character(s) exhibit in these examples?
   4. Do you recognize the source of the image (TV show, movie, etc)? If so, what is it?
   5. Is there anything notable, or different about the background of the image?
3. Above all, don’t try to describe the meme, describe what the character/subject of the meme is saying and/or doing.
4. When you have your description, copy and identify the text
   1. Overlaid text on top: [top text] Overlaid text on bottom: [bottom text]

A small selection of some commonly used memes

Memes can go viral quickly but also have usage fade very quickly, so using popular and relevant memes can be tricky. Another point to consider is if the meme contains a person, did that person give consent for their photograph to be used publicly? For this reason, the examples below only contain one person who knew they were being photographed for a public campaign.