Tim Cook's visit to Glasgow was not limited to the Honoris Causa award ceremony by the University of Glasgow. He also took the opportunity to visit the Apple Store, where he had a somewhat special conversation. There was Angela Reed, a person who suffers from cerebral palsy and uses the iPhone to communicate, thanks to its accessibility features.
In the interview with the local newspaper The Scotsman, Cook commented on the advantages of the iPhone to take advantage of its technology, even when a user suffers from an accessibility problem.
Our emphasis is on the accessibility of our products… we design with people's disabilities in mind… we believe that everyone should be able to take advantage of technology. It shouldn't just be for people who are lucky enough not to have disabilities.
I loved meeting Angela and how she shared a message with me on her iPhone.
According to Dailymail, Reed uses different applications to make communication easier. Asssitive Touch Help if you have difficulty touching the screen or need an adapter for it and Handoff to open suggested applications.
Apple has been awarded several times for accessibility features in different products. On Mac for example, it has been working for a long time with the adaptation of its hardware and software to the needs of users. We can find the option in System preferences.
Once we access the application, we can see the different functions. We can turn to VoiceOver, Zoom, Screen and Speech, to communicate with the Mac, see any part of the screen larger, make vision easier for mild vision problems or even tell it to read us a text.
We can also configure help in pop-up messages, the reproduction of multimedia content or facilitate the reading of subtitles. Finally, a function little known to all users, such as the dictation, using it our Mac will write us the text we pronounce.
Let's hope that upcoming technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, will further improve accessibility for people who need it.