Making the Internet a Place of Belonging
A very, very introductory guide for website writers who don’t want to leave anyone out
I believe words are energy.
Words can form connection and beauty and magic, in all the literal senses. And, when we aren’t conscientious, they can also cause harm and hurt. They’re powerful.
Because you’ve found your way to this guide, I know you care about words too, and about being inclusive and welcoming.
Making the Internet a Place of Belonging is a practical starting place for considering (and reconsidering) the language we use around gender, race, disability and illness, and it includes tips for writing our websites (and social media posts) in ways that are friendlier to screen-readers, too.
This isn’t an exhaustive guide to inclusive website writing or even a complete introduction (I am a student of language alongside you), but my hope is that it gives some helpful things to think about, ideas for where to confidently begin, an invitation to more learning and unlearning for us all, and together we can contribute to making the internet a better place of belonging.
Download the e-book here >If you’d rather listen to me reading it …
PDFs and screen-readers are not always a great mix so I have recorded myself reading this guidebook in sections. I’m not a professional reader and this is not a professional recording, but if you don’t mind my imperfections, my hope is that it gives another way to access the information and feels like a chat with a friend.
Making the Internet a Place of Belonging: An introduction
How to find the places in our writing where we may be excluding readers
Using language that includes people of all genders
Using language that respects people with disabilities or illness
Notes on writing race
Notes on writing about socioeconomic status
Writing accessible, alternative text for images (and social media)
A few helpful resources