Apple Looks Back on 30 Years of Americans With Disabilities Act

Apple shared a post today in which it reflects on the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the company’s accessibility features.

30th Anniversary

The post mentions Apple’s accessible features like Siri, Switch Control, VoiceOver, and Text to Speech, and shares the stories of disability rights activists and artists.

Matthew Whitaker, a jazz musician, talks about how he uses Apple products:

When I’m ready to record my music, I use Logic Pro X on my MacBook Pro. I usually record the drums first, then I add bass, then add whatever else I need. With VoiceOver enabled, I’m able to navigate really well around the software. Once the piece is completed, I can share the audio. I then create braille music using Lime Aloud software by Dancing Dots. This software not only produces braille music, but I can also print in sheet music for my band members.

Jazz musician Matthew Whitaker records music in Logic Pro X using VoiceOver to navigate the software.
Jazz musician Matthew Whitaker records music in Logic Pro X using VoiceOver to navigate the software.

Haben Girma, disability rights lawyer, speaker, and author, shared her experiences:

While a Deafblind student in college, I witnessed advocates using the Americans with Disabilities Act to force tech companies to render digital services accessible. Impressed by the success of these advocates, I felt inspired to join them. Back then, and even now, I encountered many barriers in the digital world. Not because of my disability, but because of attitudes among tech developers who trivialize disability access.
Disability rights lawyer Haben Girma uses MacBook Pro and a braille display to communicate.
Disability rights lawyer Haben Girma uses MacBook Pro and a braille display to communicate.
There are more stories in the post, including one from Dean Hudson, an accessibility technical evangelist at Apple who is part of the original team behind VoiceOver. “Thirty years after the signing of the ADA, its benefits are really shown in results like these. I went to school and had a human read code to me on the screen, but now people can use these tools and actually get a job as an engineer. That’s huge.”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

WIN an iPhone 16 Pro!