Before even graduating, Emilia Primavera challenged industry norms with a localization project centered on accessibility.
As a translation and localization management student, Primavera understood that a localizer’s goal is to translate and market a product or service across different languages and audiences. But as they noted in a blog published on ProZ, accessibility for people with disabilities is often overlooked—or is poorly executed—in localization.
“How can we truly make a product accessible if there are no resources to do so?” asks Primavera in the blog post. “And if, as localizers, we aim to grow a product, why should we leave out a large portion of the population?”
These questions were not abstract for Primavera. They, along with several family members and close friends, live with disabilities. That lived experience has offered them a deeper understanding of how disability shapes the way people navigate the world and how they’re included—or excluded.
“I grew up chronically ill, and a lot of the way I interacted with the world was through books, movies, and video games,” said Primavera. “It was extremely fascinating to me as a child to learn that characters could be reconstructed or omitted based on the country or region someone is in. This experience opened a world of opportunities for me.”
This personal experience and passion for accessibility led them to create LinguaInclusa while still a student at the Institute.
LinguaInclusa’s goal is to provide resources to help localizers make content more accessible, particularly for people with disabilities. It also serves as a platform for meaningful exchange between professionals and people with disabilities.
The site organizes accessibility information into four key categories of disability: visual, auditory, cognitive, and a fourth category for all other types not captured by the first three. Each category outlines essential accessibility features, along with an overview of current challenges related to that disability type.
The website also features PDF lists of country-specific accessibility laws and guidelines that localizers can easily consult, along with additional resources to help localizers conduct further research based on their needs.
These features will help localizers make their content more accessible to their intended audience. Primavera highlighted some common errors in the localization process: “Take the example of a web page. A localizer may pick a color scheme that works with the culture of a target market but makes the text illegible for users with low vision. They might also overlook the literacy level of their audience and use complex language, which impedes understanding. In this case, using clear and simple language can improve accessibility for people with low literacy or cognitive disabilities.”
Primavera has taken the ethos of the LinguaInclusa project into their work after graduation. As a localization project coordinator at Square, they manage the full localization process from start to finish, coordinate expectations between stakeholders, and ensure localization follows the company’s guidelines.
“My goal for the future is to become a localization engineer, combining my language skills with my technical skills to integrate accessibility support into products so everyone can access them,” said Primavera. “I actually was able to bring my project into my work by pushing for my team to cooperate with a company-wide initiative to meet European Accessibility Act compliance and also educating my team about the cross-section of accessibility in localization work.”
| by Sierra Abukins
You don’t need a background in linguistics, nor to be fluent in a second language, to complete your master’s in localization and build a successful career in the language services industry. People with tech, management, and business skills are in demand in this dynamic, intercultural field.
| by Caitlin Fillmore
Students have put their skills to work on a years-long data analysis and marketing project through a partnership between the Institute’s META Lab and the United Way of Monterey County.
| by Claudia Siegenthaler TLM ’23
Alum Claudia Siegenthaler says there’s no doubt that AI is shifting the role of humans in translation and localization management, but she’s seeing a lot of upside as a project manager at a localization company.
