Apple Highlights Magnifier on Mac and iPhone Music Haptics in New Videos

For those unaware, National AccessAbility Week runs from May 26 to June 1

Hence the “focus” on this by Apple at present.

As a “Rubella baby” as we were called, born partially blind and thankfully with no hearing deficits, I went through school at a time when there was limited to no support for blind students outside of specialist schools. It was ****, to say the very least.

When Apple introduced the screen reader VoiceOver on Macs in 2005, it was the start of something that opened up ease-of-use for me on computers, but when they began including accessibility features in 2009 with the iPhone 3GS, which offered VoiceOver, Zoom, Mono Audio, and White-on-Black, this was a total GAME CHANGER.

Two years later, only a week after SJ passed away, I read his Bio using Apple Books on my iPhone. It was a ground-breaking moment for me.

As I finished the Bio, I sat there thinking about the sadness of his passing, but the magnificence of what had just happened in that moment. For the first time in my adult life, I had been able to read and finish a whole book just like anybody else could, sitting in a cafe on a hand-held device and without the need for clunky screen readers or over-sized books in enormous fonts that weighed as much as the typewriter that would’ve produced them.

Apple’s willingness to invest huge amounts of money and time into making their ecosystem of hardware and software accessible to a minority of customers including me is why I have a strong sense of gratitude to their support and efforts in this area.

For me and those in similar situations, Apple’s efforts directly impact our day-to-day lives in a positive way by empowering us to be independent and a contributing member of society.

And based on the ad itself, the student's focus was on fidgeting with tech instead of listening to the professor. I don't think it is great tech if students need to click around and make image processing decision during class.

Now you know what people with disabilities have to deal with in a world that makes few accommodations for them.

Accessibility at its best with Apple
Thank you

Guys, guys, I've just noticed something. I've seen a LOT of Apple ads over the years.

Does anybody over the age of 25 use Apple stuff?

a little startled that Apple would put an adhesive doohickey in an ad

I’m not sure if I’ve even a Macbook with a sticker in an ad, or a third-party thingy of any kind

This is literally an apple commercial from 11 years ago…

Great tech. But as a professor myself, this makes me feel uncomfortable: students are not allowed to record a lecture without the lecturer's permission. Based on the ad itself, there is no way to tell if it's for accessibility or to film.

Simple advice for those who are looking into using it: be a decent person and just explain your intention to the lecturer, and politely asks if they're comfortable with it.

I’m a person who has needed tons of accommodations throughout my life, you ask on the first day and then the professor just gets used to it.
In this ad, it’s clearly not her first class, so presumably she would have *already* explained the accommodations she needed to the professor, on the first day.
But literally anything to complain, I guess