LinkedIn is upgrading video content with automatically generated captions and adding many new features to help people with accessibility needs.
With automatic captions, LinkedIn aims to make videos more accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or prefer watching videos with the sound off.
LinkedIn will automatically add captions to your videos during the upload process, which you can choose to do right away or review and edit for accuracy.
Additionally, LinkedIn is rolling out a high contrast mode for its mobile app, which will adjust colors to improve accessibility for people with visual impairments.
New features for job postings and user profiles
In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, LinkedIn is introducing several improvements that focus on the accessibility of job postings and user profiles.
Accessibility job titles
LinkedIn reports that there has been a significant increase in the annual total number of jobs posted in the United States with the word “accessibility” in the job title, indicating a growing demand for accessibility professionals:
“…our data shows that these jobs posted are up 171% since September 2019, which indicates that companies are not only actively talking about this, but taking action to hire accessibility professionals who can help them create products and services that work for everyone.”
Now, LinkedIn users working in the accessibility industry can choose a unified title such as “Accessibility Designer,” “Chief Accessibility Officer,” or “Accessibility Engineer.”
LinkedIn says using standardized job titles can help workers be discovered and hired for jobs that match their skills.
New skill in “dyslexic thinking” for profiles
LinkedIn is partnering with Richard Branson and Made By Dyslexia to launch Dyslexic Thinking, a recognized skill users can add to their profiles.
“Through our research, we have learned that dyslexic thinkers are often able to simplify complex products or tasks and see connections that others might miss. This example shows that disability can also be seen as a powerful and meaningful differentiator.”
Alt text for ads
Advertisers can now add text descriptions to display ads with alt text (alt text) in Campaign Manager.
Alt text allows people who are blind or have low vision to understand the images shown in the ad.
The new learning course on LinkedIn
A new course in the LinkedIn Learning Library can help people build accessibility skills.
Instructor Chimie Callow’s Practical Accessibility course for Designers teaches you how to design and build accessible experiences on the web.
availability
Automatic captions will be rolling out to videos in the coming weeks, and alt text for ads will be available “soon.” All other features listed in this article are now available.
Source: linkedin
Featured image: Tada Images / Shutterstock
