About the Disability Justice Project

The Disability Justice Project (DJP) is a groundbreaking initiative that amplifies disabled human rights defenders through documentary storytelling. As the first media platform dedicated to disability rights in global majority nations, DJP stands out for its innovative approach and commitment to inclusivity. The project is an award-winning effort of the Center for Independent Documentary (CID) and collaborates with disability activists and their organizations worldwide to create impactful narratives that shift perspectives and build systemic power.

DJP's approach includes providing camera kits to activists across continents, enabling them to produce high-quality, accessible media. Their videos incorporate essential accessibility features like captions, audio descriptions, and interactive transcripts. Additionally, DJP offers plain-language instructions on using their site and its accessibility settings, making their resources more accessible to a diverse audience.

The DJP Fellows program harnesses iPhone technology to spotlight critical issues, such as the climate crisis in the Pacific, showcasing the work of fellows like Ari in Samoa and Melvina in the Solomon Islands. These efforts highlight the tangible impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities and bring global attention to these pressing issues.

The Disability Justice Project’s Primary Accessibility Goal

The Disability Justice Project (DJP) needed a media player that allowed toggling audio descriptions on and off, allowed for adjusting caption styling, and supported interactive transcripts, all while being accessible to WCAG 2.1 level AA standards. They had been using Able Player but encountered issues with the functionality of interactive transcripts and syncing manually loaded captions due to changes in YouTube's policies. DJP aimed to either make Able Player reliable with an easy process for their team to upload and include necessary files or estimate the resources required to develop a custom, visually pleasing, fully accessible media player that met their outlined requirements.

After analyzing both options, we determined that enhancing the existing Able Player to meet DJP's needs was the best path forward. This approach allowed us to leverage the robust software of Able Player while addressing specific accessibility and functionality issues identified by DJP and in our thorough manual audit of the player. By focusing on improving the current player, we ensured a more efficient and cost-effective solution, providing DJP with a reliable, fully accessible media player that supported their requirements for audio descriptions, captions, and interactive transcripts.

Enhancing Able Player for the Disability Justice Project

To meet the specific needs of the DJP, we undertook several key enhancements to the Able Player. Our work focused on improving accessibility and functionality, ensuring a seamless integration with DJP's existing systems.

Key Enhancements:

• Pause and Play Speech: Enabled the ability to pause and play speech from the speechSynthesis API while it's being announced.
• Custom Styling and Behavior: Implemented custom styling and behavior to meet WCAG requirements, including focus management, dynamic notifications and warnings, robust classes for styling, and additional functionalities.
• iOS-Specific Fixes: Addressed iOS-specific workarounds to ensure smooth performance on Apple devices.
• Styling Options: Added styling options to customize the player to match the website's layout.
• WP CMS Integration: Integrated Able Player into the WordPress CMS, allowing seamless use across the website with a fallback for YouTube videos, facilitating a smooth transition from YouTube to our player solution.

Additional Enhancements for the Disability Justice Project

In addition to the primary enhancements, we addressed several other critical issues to improve the overall functionality and user experience of DJP's website.

Additional Tasks:

• Social Media Post Generation: Removed the WP plugin responsible for generating social media posts from website content and leveraged WP own capabilities to ensure the correct photo is used and alt text from WP images is automatically transferred to social media posts where supported.
• Video Ordering: Adjusted the ordering of videos on the Projects Page to ensure the newest material appears at the top, allowing for preferred content prioritization.
• Featured Image Cropping: Modified the default crop for featured images in news articles to ensure consistent, square cropping for better visual alignment on the homepage.
• Video Alignment: Ensured all videos on the homepage were aligned with text to the right for a cohesive layout.
• Implemented a section on the website to include new events through the WordPress panel. Before it was hardcoded, now anyone can add new events through the admin panel.

These additional enhancements further refined DJP's digital presence, ensuring a smoother and more accessible user experience across various platforms.

Ongoing Support for the Disability Justice Project

Beyond our initial enhancements to the Able Player, we have continued to support the Disability Justice Project by adjusting website layouts and performing regular site maintenance. Every aspect of our work prioritizes accessibility, ensuring that DJP's digital presence is fully inclusive and functional. This ongoing commitment has helped DJP maintain a high standard of accessibility and user experience across its platform.

Recently, we played a critical role in recovering DJP's website from a successful hack. Our swift response and effective recovery measures, in collaboration with DJP’s primary developer, ensured minimal disruption to their operations. Following this incident, we implemented robust security protocols to safeguard the site from future threats, demonstrating our dedication to protecting DJP's valuable digital assets.

We are now engaged in a monthly monitoring program, providing continuous oversight and maintenance to prevent potential issues before they arise. This proactive approach ensures the website remains secure, accessible, and up-to-date. Additionally, we are always on standby to assist with any new challenges or opportunities, helping DJP advance their mission of empowering disabled human rights defenders through accessible media.

Conclusion

Our partnership with the Disability Justice Project exemplifies our commitment to comprehensive, accessible digital solutions. From enhancing Able Player to ongoing site maintenance and security, we are dedicated to supporting DJP's mission. Our continuous collaboration ensures that DJP can focus on their vital work, knowing that their digital platform is in expert hands.

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