Apple Highlights Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Front-Page Feature [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, an event that promotes inclusion and access to technology for anyone with a disability. As it has over the past few years, Apple is marking the day by updating Apple.com in the United States and a few regions around the world with a message promoting accessibility: "Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone."

On the Apple.com front page, visitors are encouraged to explore more accessibility features, which is linked to Apple's existing accessibility page. The page doesn't appear to have been updated yet this year; it highlights areas where Apple helps users with disabilities related to vision, hearing, physical and motor skills, learning, and literacy.

On the accessibility page, Apple highlights its short commercial from 2016 about real people with disabilities who use its products in everyday life, narrated by Sady Paulson, who uses Switch Control on a Mac. Otherwise the page showcases Apple accessibility features like VoiceOver, Live Listen, Switch Control, and more, with the help of products including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and HomePod.

In years past, Apple celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day with a series of "Designed for" videos that highlighted interviews conducted between CEO Tim Cook and three accessibility activists. Apple has also previously held a Stevie Wonder concert at One Infinite Loop and hosted global events promoting inclusive design at Apple corporate offices in Cupertino, Austin, Cork, and London. The company also usually holds accessibility-related Today at Apple sessions at its retail stores.

Update: Apple is also highlighting accessibility on the iOS App Store today, featuring stories about developers who build iOS apps to help people with disabilities.

The stories discuss apps like Proloquo2Go, Strava, Audible, djay, Ready to Roll, and more. They can be found on the "Today" tab on the App Store on iPhone and iPad.

The company has also shared a new press release that focuses on California-based photographer Rachael Short, who takes fine art photographs exclusively using the iPhone. Short suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident nine years ago, and now uses an iPhone XS to capture images. She used to carry multiple cameras and a variety of film around, but loves the mobility and ease-of-use the iPhone affords her after the accident.

"I couldn't imagine being in my situation even 15 years ago without my iPhone," Short says. "Technology has changed so much in that time. It just opens up so many possibilities for people with disabilities and limited mobility. It's my camera, it's my email, it's my photo editing, it's 'Hey Siri, do stuff for me.' It's everything."

Apple also confirmed that it is hosting events around the world to promote inclusive design and emphasize technology that works for everyone.

Article Link: Apple Highlights Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Front-Page Feature [Updated]

 

[No. 44]

To celebrate, Apple should make a keyboard that can be used by people who have fingers...

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

Apple should be commended for their accessibility features.

Although the products are not cheap by any means, they are uber-cheap when compared to the products marketed for disabled people (hearing impaired, physically impaired, eye-sight impaired, ...), and do work better.

This is an area where Cook has his beans aligned on the right place -- for a change.

Just my view.

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Wonderful features.

 

[nwcs]

For whatever else I may think of Apple good or bad or politically this is something I will always appreciate about them. They have historically and consistently worked harder than most companies to make their products accessible to people with disabilities. Bravo!

 

[brinary001]

I love how much Apple is committed to accessibility, and I back them 100% in their efforts. I'm a software developer and I've always wanted to work for Apple on the team that develops the accessibility features of iOS and Mac. I feel like that must be so rewarding!

 

[Plutonius]

I wonder when people will run out of available days that they can name after events.

I myself want to declare tomorrow as "National Lemmings Appreciation Day" .

As far as accessibility, I think Apple does a good job.

 

[Tivoli_]

Is this the fix for Apple's keyboard problems?

 

[laz232]

Apple should be commended for their accessibility features.

Although the products are not cheap by any means, they are uber-cheap when compared to the products marketed for disabled people (hearing impaired, physically impaired, eye-sight impaired, ...), and do work better.

This is an area where Cook has his beans aligned on the right place -- for a change.

Just my view.

I fully support Apple's accessibility features (I use some of them - like: Transparency off, Transitions/Movement off).

This existed long before Tim Cook though, here is an interesting write-up on the history of Accessibility in OS X:

https://maccessibility.net/2011/02/10/blind-faith-a-decade-of-apple-accessibility

 

[jcabrera]

Did you notice that they changed Daenerys (in this post) to Catelyn (right now at Apple.com) in the Game of Thrones book shown in the iPad? Wonder why that was...

 

[BuddyTronic]

For whatever else I may think of Apple good or bad or politically this is something I will always appreciate about them. They have historically and consistently worked harder than most companies to make their products accessible to people with disabilities. Bravo!

Yes, it shows that they take the high road in my opinion. They do good things like being (arguably) the best company pushing for accessibility, and they are doing it because it's good, not just to make more money. It's very good way to run a business.

 

[ajguckian]

Did you notice that they changed Daenerys (in this post) to Catelyn (right now at Apple.com) in the Game of Thrones book shown in the iPad? Wonder why that was...

Came here to commend Apple for doing something that they really didn't have to, but this is fantastic. They must of signed that petition going around.

Again, I am super impressed that Apple goes above and beyond in this area, even though I barely use any of the features.

 

[CarstenEilender]

If Apple really cares for accessibility, why doesn’t Safari allow the user to increase the font size on webpages? That’s a standard feature of desktop browsers for years. E.g. Safari could use the general font size settings from the iOS settings. Zooming into the page is no option, because that makes horizontal scrolling necessary.

 

[barbu]

If Apple really cares for accessibility, why doesn’t Safari allow the user to increase the font size on webpages? That’s a standard feature of desktop browsers for years. E.g. Safari could use the general font size settings from the iOS settings. Zooming into the page is no option, because that makes horizontal scrolling necessary.

Have you not tried Cmd-+? It’s been there since Safari 1.0 as far as I recall. Unless I am misunderstanding you here...

 

[ignatius345]

There are a lot of great features buried in the Accessibility settings in Mac and iOS.

- My favorite new trick for using iOS late at night and not frying my retinas is to make a custom color filter that goes even more into the red than Night Shift. Once you've got it set up with the shortcut, you can either triple-click the Home button or use the Accessibility shortcut in the Control Center to trigger it quickly.

- On the Mac side, I always enable "Drag Lock" -- it lets you lightly tap 2x on the trackpad and then drag things around, instead of having to click and hold the trackpad down. It's hard to explain but incredibly easy to use, and also makes selecting text much faster. This used to be available in the main Trackpad control panel, but at some point for whatever reason they buried it here:
System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options

 

[whatgift]

Apple's accessibility features are excellent, except for colour contrast in regular use - for example, having dark grey text on a black background in the lockscreen music player is hard to read for anyone, let alone someone with vision issues.
The apple watch has many of these issues as well - I shudder to think what Dark Mode will turn out like for readability if they make similar decisions with contrast.

 

[michaelsviews]

"Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone." = True,

But when it consumes us?

 

[CarstenEilender]

Have you not tried Cmd-+? It’s been there since Safari 1.0 as far as I recall. Unless I am misunderstanding you here...

Sorry, I forgot to mention, that I mean Safari on iOS.

 

[mi7chy]

Sounds misleading when, for example, Siri can't even understanding people without speech impairment while Google has Project Euphonia.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sirifail

 

[barbu]

Sorry, I forgot to mention, that I mean Safari on iOS.

Ah! My apologies then! I guess you will need the system wide zoom to make that work, I dunno.

 

[Joy23]

Came here to commend Apple for doing something that they really didn't have to, but this is fantastic. They must of signed that petition going around.

Again, I am super impressed that Apple goes above and beyond in this area, even though I barely use any of the features.

That's just it. Anyone who is actually disabled and relies on these faces doesn't think that much of them. Mamas disability potential he but for most as you can see this is largely indecipherable. If you have no use of your hands and are not American and the accessibility is actually pretty **** compared to what they claim. And as they completely messed up their relationship with the new ones that is Dragon Nguyen can't type that…and drank in a semi what? You see this is ridiculous and it takes for ever to edit it. Dragon for Machas been removed because of Apple meaning thatthere are literally hundreds of thousands of disabled peopleIt hey were on our on able to use the Mac own devices very expensive devices from Apple. It would be better to just be honest but duped as you are, it is of course about money hi and insulting to those who are forced to use this slapdash attempt. You see what disable people actually have to deal with it and they're claiming it's exquisite which is laughable where it not so life swat Inge forcing nope none of those words and apparently it won't type it, can you can of course use the latter function life-TOHNWKRTING but you get that. Marvelous Apple do better.
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Yes, it shows that they take the high road in my opinion. They do good things like being (arguably) the best company pushing for accessibility, and they are doing it because it's good, not just to make more money. It's very good way to run a business.

Of my many disabled friends everyone is moving or of course remaining with android, because it is impossible to do everything by voice on a Mac unless you're American of course as a party that helps given that it's only an American English, not very inclusive as it? Is it? Country bothered to edit in this tedious laborious ridiculousness.