The Apple Accessibility website has been given a major revamp, in a move praised by accessibility and assisting tech reporter Steven Aquino – who said that it “captures their institutional love for accessibility as a thing.”
Apple heads the page with an invitation to “make something wonderful” …
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Voice tweets – the ability to record and tweet an audio message – are coming to more iOS Twitter users, while Android and web users will need to wait until some time next year. The company first began testing the feature on iOS back in June.
Twitter is also working to address a key criticism of the new feature …
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Apple takes great pride in its Accessibility features, promotes them heavily, and has won awards for them. For someone living with a disability, the right technology can literally be life-changing. Apple’s technology helps many people live a more independent life.
There is, though, still room for improvement. To better understand the differences Apple technology makes, and the gaps that still exist, I interviewed Colin Hughes, a 55-year-old Brit who has severe muscular dystrophy – a muscle-wasting disease which leaves him effectively quadriplegic, unable to use either arms or legs …
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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was created in 1990 to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities, is turning 30 this week. As this has also impacted technology, TechCrunch interviewed Apple’s Sarah Herrlinger to explore how the company values accessibility practices and features.
A number of autism apps have been highlighted by Apple on World Autism Awareness Day, an annual event intended to educate people about those with autistic spectrum disorders. It is part of the company’s extensive commitment to accessibility.
The United Nations has drawn attention to the specific challenges faced by people with autism during the coronavirus outbreak…
A former Apple Store Genius who uses a wheelchair claims that Apple breaks disability law in its treatment of employees by failing to properly accommodate their needs…
Apple puts a big emphasis on the accessibility of its products, ranging from iPhone and Apple Watch to AirPods and more. In a new interview, Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s global head of accessibility, offers more details about Apple’s focus on accessibility.
Future AirPods models could offer a range of smart features that would blur the line between in-ear headphones and hearing aids, suggests a new thought piece today.
AirPods Pro models already offer a ‘layered’ sound experience, but future models could offer far more sophisticated sound processing…
Using a mouse with an iPad was billed by Apple as an accessibility tool, included in iPadOS for those who find it hard to use a touchscreen accurately. This includes people with various conditions that affect motor control.
But the company is aware that the feature will appeal to many others too …
This week during Apple’s WWDC sessions for developers the company showed off some new features for accessibility coming to iOS 13. These include new settings to improve app interactions for users with various motion sensitivity and color-blindness disabilities. The new features will be available in Apple’s own apps starting with iOS 13 and in third-party apps via new APIs for developers.
Head below for full details on the new features:
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day and Apple is celebrating and promoting accessibility in a few different ways. The App Store has multiple features highlighting developers, athletes, and creatives, and also has feature for the top accessibility apps for vision, hearing, speech, learning, physical and motor, and more.
Seeing AI has to count as one of the most transformational apps ever created, narrating the world to blind and low-vision users, and it just got more powerful still in the latest update.
Microsoft says the latest version gets three new features …
With the introduction of the Apple Watch and later AirPods, Apple broke new ground on integrating sensors and vital health tracking tools into wearable technology. The company’s health ambitions were cemented with the Apple Watch Series 4, which introduced fall detection and a sensor to let you take ECGs on the go. Other companies are also exploring the intersection of wearable technology and wellness. Starkey has been an early leader in what they refer to as the “healthables” market. At CES 2019, the company previewed new updates to its line of intelligent hearing aids.
Instagram is out today with two major accessibility improvements to give those with visual impairments a better experience on the social media platform. Automatic alternative text and custom alternative text will offer users the ability to hear descriptions of photos.
A small detail Apple changed in the transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7 and beyond is On/Off Labels. In the old days, Apple enabled On/Off labels by default and now that’s no longer the case with iOS’ modern, more flat approach.
Follow along to learn how to turn them back on…
At WWDC 2018, Apple’s Senior Director of Global Accessibility Policy & Initiatives Sarah Herrlinger joined the Accessible Podcast for an interview. Hosted by Steven Aquino and Timothy Buck, the Accessible Podcast is an excellent new podcast focused on highlighting accessibility in technology…
Smart home technology can be a great convenience to any of us, but is often particularly valuable to those with disabilities.
We recently heard blind people talk about the life-changing nature of things like Apple’s Siri and VoiceOver, and one 9to5Mac reader has now told us how he uses two pieces of smart home tech to help keep a disabled family member safe …
USB Implementers Forum has today shared a new Human Interface Device standard for braille displays. This marks an important step for providing greater accessibility to those with low vision or blindness to devices across manufacturers and operating systems.
The WSJ has an interesting piece looking at how AI and other forms of technology are transforming the lives of blind people.
Microsoft’s Seeing AI app is one particularly dramatic example – able to do things like identify faces, recognize bank notes, read handwriting and so on – but Apple’s tech is also said to be incredibly valuable …
It’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day today, May 17, and Apple is marking the occasion by highlighting its accessibility features on the apple.com homepage …
Apple has announced that its Everyone Can Code curriculum will be living up to its name, by making it accessible to blind and deaf students, as well as those with other disabilities such as issues with motor skills.
A Swift training program which begins in kindergarten schools, Everyone Can Code started out as a free ebook (available here, with teachers’ guide) before being rolled out to colleges around the world, including a huge rollout in Chicago …
Apple will be hosting at least two exclusive events at its retail stores to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day tomorrow. These include one with Paralympian Scout Bassett and Nike+ Head Coach Chris Bennett and another with activist Andrea Dalzell.
In the run-up to Global Accessibility Awareness Day this Thursday, Apple has been highlighting a few of the ways that it has worked to make life easier for people with disabilities …
Apple engineers visited the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired earlier this week where the company leads its Everyone Can Code curriculum. According to Austin Satesman of Open Source, this was the first class Apple has led for blind and low-vision students.
