3 Ways to Make Digital Content More Inclusive
A company may have a culture of open-mindedness, respect for the LGBTQ+ community, and a deep-felt commitment to equality for all. But its website could communicate something else entirely by using language that unintentionally excludes the very people it’s trying to reach.
Inspired by attacks on the well-being of transgender Americans, we at Logic Dept. conducted user research to understand how language and content hierarchy can create more inclusive websites. From that, we’ve put together this brief guide to help everyone improve digital experiences specifically for LGBTQ+ folx*.
Here are a few simple measures you can take to make your digital spaces inclusive and welcoming, especially when working with marginalized audiences.
1. Avoid stigmatizing language and labeling.
You’re trying to bring everyone into the conversation and normalize their existence, not make any population feel “other,” so:
Use positive language that doesn’t have a negative history. While some people in the LGBTQ+ community use the word “queer” in their personal vernacular when speaking with others from the community, it’s understood that there is a deep and negative history around the word. That history makes it a common word to avoid if you’re working with LGBTQ+ folx. If your content is based on, or targeting, a stigmatized population, make sure you collaborate with members of that community to ensure that the language you use is productive.
Avoid adding unnecessary descriptors. Recently, Apple announced their new menstrual cycle monitoring in their WatchOS update. Apple did a great job using inclusive language in its announcement. Without stating it outright, the company acknowledged that women aren’t the only people who experience menstrual cycles. Nowhere on its site does it state that this feature is for women; the language (“Gaining insight into your menstrual cycle,” for example) is incredibly inclusive.
2. Neutralize language across all your content.
Working in the digital realm, understand that there are so many different types of people viewing the content you post. Using neutral language ensures that you are welcoming to all people. Neutral language avoids bias toward any particular sex, gender, or social group. The goal of neutral language is to alleviate prejudice, stereotypes, and discriminatory views of a particular group of people. Obviously, there are outlying cases (i.e., industry-specific terms such as metadata, cognitive walkthroughs, information architecture, or really any medical term), but to make your content truly inclusive, make sure anyone can understand what’s being shared online.
Sometimes, in an effort to be inclusive, companies will call out groups that don’t need special attention. A medical website, for instance, might have a section labeled LGBTQ+ Health. While this doesn’t necessarily seem problematic, it adds an exclusionary tone and asserts that folx in the LGBTQ+ community have to worry about their health separately from other people. All people have bodies and health concerns; there is no need to distinguish between health care and LGBTQ+ health care.
Content that is specific to LGBTQ+ folx in some way (i.e., hormone replacement therapy or gender-affirming surgeries) could have relevant metadata to make sure it appears in a search, rather than using blatant labeling that creates dividing lines between populations.
That being said, there are exceptions to every rule. You just have to know the rules before you can break them. Take all audiences into consideration before thinking about making those exceptions. In the above example, creating these lines of separation between the health needs of audiences creates an assumption that LGBTQ+ folx have “other” health issues they need to worry about, which typically isn’t the case. At the end of the day, it’s all health care.
3. Find unbiased ways to talk about or describe people.
In place of gendered pronouns like “he” or “she,” simply use a neutral pronoun like “they.” (This isn’t bad grammar: It’s a commonly accepted practice with six centuries of historical precedent.) If you want to take it a step further, you can avoid pronouns altogether and use descriptive phrases like “the participant,” “the sales clerk,” “the person with the blue shirt.” And then there’s the most neutral descriptor — someone’s name. (Obviously, this can’t be done when describing research results, but it’s a good rule of thumb for other purposes.) It’s important to remember that this practice of unbiased language should be mirrored in your company culture and your personal life. The old adages “practice what you preach” and “practice makes perfect” apply here.
As for many stigmatized populations, the internet has historically been a safe space for LGBTQ+ folx. If we all make these small changes in our content strategy, organizations, and personal lives, we can make sure that the digital world continues to feel safe and welcoming to everyone.
*Folx: An alternative spelling of the word “folks” that is a gender and culturally neutral collective noun used to address a group of people.
This article was originally published on Medium by Magenta a blog from Huge Inc.