I have low vision and use tools like alt text and image descriptions to provide context and/or clarification about what is in an image. Writing alt text and image descriptions is an extra step for many content creators, and I am grateful for everyone who takes the time to add it to their posts on social media or other digital content since this is such an important accessibility tool for people with visual impairments (inclusive of blind, low vision, and neurological visual impairment). However, I acknowledge that I can’t expect every image I ever encounter to be accessible, and that some creators have conflicting access needs that can make it challenging for them to write their own alt text. Here are my tips for how to access images without alt text from the perspective of a user with low vision who primarily accesses information visually.
A gentle reminder: conflicting access needs exist
I share several resources on how to write alt text, image descriptions, and similar accessibility strategies for images on my website, but I want to start this post with the gentle reminder that conflicting access needs exist, and there can be many reasons why individual creators cannot or do not post alt text with their images. In many cases, I have noticed creators start posting alt text after someone requests that it be added, but individuals or smaller accounts may not have the ability to provide quality alt text for visually impaired users like myself. I think of this as a conflicting access need, similar to the strobing phone notifications that can help hearing impaired users know when a phone is ringing but that make me super disoriented due to the rapid flashing. In this situation, I rely on alt text to help me understand images, but someone else may find it difficult or impossible to write it, even if they know it would be helpful for others.
While there is no technology that can replace the high-quality alt text and image descriptions written by humans, I share these options to empower users with low vision like myself to find ways to access images when alt text is not available or when an image is challenging to see.
Related links
- How To Add Alt Text On Social Media
- How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- How To Write Video Descriptions For TikTok
- Customize Accessibility Settings For Specific Apps
- Disability Accommodations For Fluctuating Eyesight
- How To Write Alt Text For Amateur Art
Can screen readers automatically recognize images?
Not exactly. While a screen reader can detect that an image is present, these tools often rely on alt text for informing the user about what’s in an image. Some tools have incorporated basic image recognition capabilities in recent updates, but this technology isn’t generally available on mobile devices yet and it also tends to provide very generic descriptions that may not always provide the user with the information they need to understand key details in an image. Also, not everyone who benefits from alt text users a screen reader, as some people like me prefer to read descriptions in large print to get more context or clarification about what is in an image. This is why image accessibility tools like alt text and image descriptions are so important.
Related links
- A to Z of Assistive Technology For Low Vision
- Seven Myths About Alt Text
- Lemon On A Pear: Accessible Memes For Low Vision
- My Ideas For Improving Alt Text Features On Social Media
Recognizing images with Seeing AI
Seeing AI is a free app developed by Microsoft for iOS and Android that helps people with visual impairments get information in real-time about the world around them using artificial intelligence— which is the “AI” in Seeing AI. One of the features of the Seeing AI app is an image recognition tool that can recognize details such as text, objects, faces, and other environmental items, and this image recognition tool can be used in several applications, including the device gallery and on social media. I have an entire post about Seeing AI linked below for further reading.
Personally, I find this tool works best for describing photos, objects, or reading text from an image. I’ve had mixed results with using it for art or more abstract content.
How to recognize images with Seeing AI
- If needed, download the Seeing AI app to the device if it is not already installed
- Choose the image that you want to recognize with Seeing AI. This can be in the gallery, in an application, in the web browser, etc. Images accessed through a web browser may need to be saved to the device or opened in a new tab first.
- Open the Share menu for the image (this looks like a box with an arrow pointing upward, or three dots next to an image)
- From the Actions menu, select Recognize with Seeing AI
- The finished description will display on the bottom of the image, with information from relevant categories automatically displayed
Related links
Google Lens
Google Lens is a free Android app that uses image recognition technology like Seeing AI and uses the same technology as the Google Assistant camera. In the latest versions of Android, Google Lens is a built-in feature that can analyze any image and provide the following information:
- Translate text in another language
- Read and copy text from the image (extremely helpful for writing alt text for screenshots!)
- Identify objects through image recognition
- Help with homework/recognizing equations
- Scan barcodes or identify items and provide information about a product
- Give more information about dishes on a menu
Google Lens is also available for iOS within the Google app, which can be accessed by selecting Lens and either uploading a picture or using the device camera to search in real time.
How to recognize images with Google Lens in-app
- If needed, download the Google Lens app or open the Google Lens camera within the Google app
- Swipe on the bottom of the screen to determine which filter to use, i.e. text, translation, etc.
- Within the Google Lens app, take a picture of the item that needs to be recognized or upload it from the gallery
- The finished description will display on the bottom of the image, with information from relevant categories automatically displayed
How to recognize images with Google Lens from Gallery
- Open an image in the Camera app/phone gallery
- Select the Google Lens icon, which looks like a small camera
- To change what is recognized in an image, tap the “Select Filters” button at the bottom of the screen and swipe to select a filter
- The finished description will display on the bottom of the image, with information from relevant categories automatically displayed
How to use Google Lens with Google Chrome
- Long-press on a single image (if using a touch screen) or right-click on an image
- Scroll to the bottom of the Action menu and tap “Search With Google Lens”
- To change what is recognized in an image, tap the “Select Filters” button at the bottom of the screen and swipe to select a filter
- The finished description will display on the bottom of the image, with information from relevant categories automatically displayed
Related links
- How I Use Google Lens With Low Vision
- Google Lookout App For Low Vision
- How I Use Google Assistant While Traveling
Copy and paste text from gallery
With the Photos app for iOS and Google Photos, users can select text from a photo using OCR technology and copy/paste the text into another application to read with large print. To select text, simply long-press on a supported image and drag the highlighting tool to select a specific area of text, or select “copy text from image” if the option is available. I use this technique for reading menus or information on coupons that don’t otherwise have alt text, or for copy/pasting screenshots of text. Users should still take the time to proofread text to make sure it was copied correctly if they are sharing it with someone else— for example, one time an OCR app rendered text said that the special of the day at a restaurant was a racial slur, which made absolutely no sense.
Sometimes, text will be automatically copied in all capital letters. This can be challenging to read for people with visual impairments, so if I am sharing the text with someone else I’ll use a case converter tool to convert the text into sentence case for better formatting.
Related links
Open a visual assistance app
Visual assistance apps, sometimes called visual interpreting apps, are tools that connect users who are blind or visually impaired with people or technology that can help them to get information about something that they would not be able to see otherwise. Visual assistance apps for blind and low vision users are a category of high-tech assistive technology applications that can be installed on a smartphone or tablet. By streaming video from the device’s back camera or uploading a file, visual assistance apps recognize text and other objects, providing a transcript of text or visual description of items such as objects, colors, people, and more.
Apps like Seeing AI and Google Lens are examples of tools that use machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate descriptions, though there are other tools that use humans to generate descriptions like Be My Eyes and Aira, or that use a hybrid approach that incorporates both human and AI-generated descriptions.
Disclaimer: I previously received free Aira service through a now-defunct program for college students in 2018/2019 and spoke at an Aira-sponsored event in 2018.
Related links
- All About Visual Assistance Apps For Visually Impaired
- Tips For Be My Eyes Volunteers From A User With Low Vision
Go to the original source
Alt text cannot be saved to an image, even if it is downloaded or copied from another source that had included alt text. When looking at images reposted from another source, one option is to conduct a reverse image search to see if the content has been uploaded elsewhere with alt text or an image description, or to search for images in a higher resolution. Google Lens is a great tool for this, and I have also used search features with Google and Bing to find higher resolution images. However, I do not recommend using this for graphs or data visualizations since charts can look visually similar but have wildly different datasets.
Sometimes, creators will share screenshots of articles or graphics from another source. Text screenshots often require a lot of horizontal scrolling to read, so I recommend sharing a link to the original source where the text can be found, or the name of the article so users can search for it on their own. I’ve also encountered accounts that would link extended descriptions of images, or provide users with a source for data that they can explore on their own.
Related links
- Options For Writing Extended Image Descriptions On Social Media
- Adapting Accessible Charts: Math Problems and Low Vision
- How To Run Effective Web Searches
Request alt text with hashtags or bots
On social media, there are a few different strategies for requesting alt text or image descriptions for an image that is posted without it. While users cannot generally go back and edit images to include alt text once they are posted, images can be reposted with alt text or have a description added in the comments/in a caption. While the exact resources vary by platform, some tools I have personally encountered include:
- Using the hashtag #Alt4Me on BlueSky, Twitter (X), and similar platforms. Other users browse the hashtag and can reply to the post with their own alt text or image description.
- Tagging a bot or account that specializes in providing alt text for a specific type of content. I have encountered accounts that specialize in photojournalism images, memes, specific fandoms, food pictures, and others. Again, this is very platform-dependent.
Some platforms automatically add alt text for GIFs inserted from a GIF library, which users can then edit if needed to ensure it conveys their intended message. I’ve also found a few AI alt text generators that can generate descriptions across a variety of contexts and can be edited later, including a free tool from Actually Useful AI which I linked below. Again, it’s important to edit descriptions when appropriate.
Related links
Don’t rely on AI generated content for academic purposes
While it is important to have tools for accessing images without alt text like artificial intelligence/AI apps, these should not be used in academic contexts where it is critical that students recognize specific details in an image, since AI may miss out on the key details that a user needs to understand what is happening in an image. For example, I’ve had several AI-generated descriptions that just read “graph” or “line chart”, which is okay for decorative purposes but really frustrating if I’m taking a statistics exam and have no idea what I am looking at, or when I need to know every character in a screenshot of a math problem (if a number or symbol is missing or displayed wrong, I’ll get the question wrong).
Even if it’s not an instantaneous process, requesting graphics with alt text or image descriptions from my college’s accessibility office has helped tremendously when accessing images without alt text, as has talking to my professors about posting images in high resolution formats that I can see.
Related links
- What To Know About College Assistive Technology Specialists
- Adapting Digital Equations: Math Problems and Low Vision
- Receiving Accessible Educational Materials With NIMAC and AIM-VA
More tips for accessing images without alt text
- Looking for a shareable resource on how to write alt text? This post on my website is very popular and includes a shareable graphic— How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
- Need tips for reading handwriting or accessing historical documents? Read Reading Handwriting With Assistive Technology and How I Access Historical Documents With Low Vision
- Want more alt text content? Browse Alt Text Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes (veroniiiica.com)
Published August 3, 2021. Updated November 2024