Video Accessibility: An Issue for Everyone
Video is everywhere. And precisely because it's the dominant content format, we can't afford to ignore accessibility anymore. RGAA criteria 4.1-4.13 cover temporal media. An accessible video needs to work for deaf users (subtitles, transcription) AND blind users (audio description). Not one or the other -- both.
Synchronized Subtitles
If there's speech in your video, subtitles are mandatory (RGAA 4.1, 4.3). No negotiation. That includes presentations, tutorials, interviews, recorded webinars, even ads. Key practices: identify speakers ([Marie] Hi, I'm...), describe sounds ([applause], [door slam]), sync precisely, max 2 lines at a time, and always review auto-generated subtitles -- YouTube's auto-captions are riddled with errors on proper nouns and technical terms. Recommended format: WebVTT (.vtt) for web, SRT (.srt) as a universal fallback.
Audio Description
This is the one people forget most often. Audio description is added narration that describes important visual elements not conveyed by the soundtrack: visual actions, on-screen text, location changes, significant facial expressions. If your tutorial shows steps on screen without describing them verbally, a blind user has no idea what's happening.
Text Transcription
The full text version of your video, available right next to it (link or collapsible section). Includes all speech with speaker identification, visual element descriptions, and significant sounds. Bonus: it's indexable by search engines, so your SEO benefits too.
Accessible Video Player
Here's a detail people overlook: the video player itself must be accessible. What good are perfect subtitles if the user can't toggle them with a keyboard? Keyboard controls (Space for play/pause, arrows for seek, M for mute), labeled buttons, accessible subtitle toggle, keyboard volume control, and absolutely no autoplay with sound -- it's annoying for everyone and disastrous for screen reader users. My top pick: Able Player (open source, built for accessibility). Plyr and Video.js are solid alternatives.
Accessible video reaches a much wider audience than you think: subtitles also help people on the subway, in open offices, or who don't speak the language fluently. Accessibility benefits everyone.