What is LinguaInclusa and why?
LinguaInclusa is a research project turned resource hub to provide information and guidelines about different disabilities to make content more accessible. Localization, or the process of translating and marketing a product, service, brand, or company from a source locale to a target locale, involves making sure a product can be accessed by as many people as possible. However, accessibility for people with disabilities is often looked over or done poorly, restricting their access completely.
Moreover, the research conducted for this project shows that accessibility implementation falls on the localization team more often than not, but there are little if any resources to supplement this additional task. How can we truly make a product accessible if there are no resources to do so? And on that note, if we as localizers already aim to grow our product, why should we leave out a large portion of the population? With that problem in mind, LinguaInclusa planted its roots.
LinguaInclusa’s Mission
LinguaInclusa aims to:
- Provide localization professionals with guidelines on accessibility
- Ensure that everyone is included in the localization process, regardless of their circumstances
- Present information on the importance of accessibility and its intersection with localization
- Allow cooperation from both professionals and people with disabilities to contribute information towards the above goals
Who created LinguaInclusa?
Hello! My name is Emilia Primavera (they/them/theirs) and I am the creator of LinguaInclusa. At the time of writing this blurb, I am a 2nd year graduate student pursuing a Master’s in Translation and Localization Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. My goal for the future is to become a localization engineer to combine my language skills with my technical skills and build support in products that allows everyone to access them.
This project represents my passion for accessibility and localization which are two concepts that are near and dear to my heart. I was, unfortunately, born with a congenital anomaly in my ureter resulting in hydronephrosis, a condition that, according to the National Kidney Foundation, occurs when a kidney swells and can’t get rid of urine like it should, and had many hospitalizations and procedures throughout my life to alleviate symptoms. As a result of this condition, I also developed dysautonomia, or dysfunction of the autonomic nervous systems, at age 15 which further restricted my daily life. Aside from myself, members of my family and my close friends also live with disabilities that affect the way they interact with the world and how they are included in it.
Through these experiences, I learned not only the importance of accessibility but also where it is lacking. Through this project, I aim to improve content accessibility, provide information for localizers, and ensure that everyone is accounted for in localization not only those who can easily access the content in each locale.