If Apple gets apple intelligence right, the biggest Beneficiary will be accessibility

Although I’ve covered it before, I’ve admittedly heretofore been reticent to write more about Apple Intelligence because I’m skeptical my viewpoints will be heard. The seemingly cacophonous opinion, industry-wide, is Apple Intelligence—and Siri in particular—is shit and irredeemable. Accessibility isn’t exactly juicy headline fodder.

But then, compulsion. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman put out a blockbuster scoop today in which he reports Apple chief executive Tim Cook has tapped Vision Pro boss Mike Rockwell to take over Siri from ostensible AI leader John Giannandrea. Gurman notes Cook purportedly has “lost confidence” in Giannandrea’s ability to come through in product development, adding Rockwell will report to the company’s software boss in senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi. Gurman writes Apple’s so-called “Top 100” leaders met in a secretive offsite retreat to discuss, amongst other things, the existential crisis regarding Apple’s languishing place in the AI standings.

At a macro level, the utter contempt for Apple Intelligence (and, by extension, Siri) at this point is so thick it’s hard to find the proverbial silver lining within this darkest of clouds. But I say it is doable—the good within Apple Intelligence is there, whether tech journalists and armchair analysts want to acknowledge it or not. In my opinion, Apple Intelligence is one of those products which exemplify why more robust reporting on disability inclusion vis-a-vis accessibility is so sorely needed at tech desks in media organizations everywhere. By my estimation, there has been a pittance of focus on Apple Intelligence and accessibility; by contrast, the lion’s share of the coverage has been, while constructive in spots, has been mostly overwhelmingly negative in tone.

Take Image Playgrounds, for instance. Most observers in the Apple community loathe the feature for being goofy and generally useless, also pointing to the general distaste over how robots can now create. What this perspective lacks is, of course, empathy for disabled people. Whatever you, able-bodied reader, may think of artificial intelligence and tools like Midjourney, for example, the reality is it’s extremely plausible the advent of Image Playgrounds gives an aspiring artist with disabilities—someone who may not be able to use an Apple Pencil on iPad Pro—a conduit through which to unleash their creativity and self-expression. This is not at all trivial, regardless of one’s philosophical views on art or their views on the quality of Image Playgrounds’ output. It’s perfectly okay for Image Playgrounds to not be your jam, but to sneer at it wholesale reeks of elitism and dishonesty. On the contrary, Image Playgrounds very well could be a disabled person’s jam by empowering them with an accessible way to build things.

The same argument applies to Writing Tools. Perhaps Stephen King needn’t use it; I know I don’t need to use it. Still, the fact the feature exists at all is a net positive. To wit, someone who has certain cognitive conditions, or fine-motor skills which hinders their typing ability (or some combination thereof) may find Writing Tools eminently useful at making creating prose more accessible—and more cogently understood. Like Image Playgrounds, it’s absolutely fair to critique Writing Tools in how performant it is, but it’s critical to bear in mind other use cases beyond one’s own. The problem is, obviously, most people focus on the most people—those whom decidedly aren’t disabled people.

Beyond Image Playgrounds and Writing Tools, there’s more to be appreciative of in an accessibility context. The ability to double-tap the bottom edge of one’s iPhone to type to Siri is a huge deal. That functionality was born out of the longstanding Type to Siri accessibility feature; Apple positions this new version as a way to use Siri stealthily so as to not cause disturbances. The truth is it makes Siri more accessible for people like me who stutter and for those in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. More crucially, that Apple’s software engineering groups expanded an accessibility feature for the mainstream is a shining example of how accessibility oftentimes is an incubator for innovation. The pointer in iPadOS? It originated in AssistiveTouch. My years-long understanding from sources has been it was handed off internally to the wider iPadOS software teams so they could massage it into a feature for the masses. Likewise with Double Tap on Apple Watch, as it too began life as part of the suite of accessibility options in watchOS. The salient point is simple: if one wants evidence of innovation at Apple, look no further than in accessibility. The examples I’ve illustrated here give the utmost credence to the company’s mantra that accessibility truly can be for everyone.

From an accessibility angle, what makes Siri so frustrating goes beyond aptitude—it’s functional. Just this week, I ran into an issue when, after coming home from a walk around the neighborhood, Siri insisted it couldn’t unlock my front door because my accessories don’t support it. They do! I can enter the passcode on my Nest × Yale lock just fine, but using Siri was more accessible because my hands were full. I’ve written at length about how voice-first computing can do so much for the disability community that goes further than sheer world knowledge and trivial bits like who won Super Bowls.

All of this goes without mentioning the fact Apple Intelligence integrates with system accessibility stalwarts such as VoiceOver. It’s an exclusive advantage for the company (and its users!) much in the same way Apple silicon-based hardware can be in running large-scale LLMs. These advantages are, again, non-trivial—especially in accessibility.

I wholeheartedly believe my friend and peer John Gruber when he said last week something is rotten down 280 in Cupertino. There’s surely some amalgamation of hubris, lack of preparedness, and incompetence at play to explain Apple’s floundering with Apple Intelligence as it tries to catch up with the rest of the industry. Zac Hall at 9to5 Mac, another friend of mine, described the company’s problems in a recent op-ed; he writes, quite eloquently, in part “the floor for what’s expected of a system like Siri is quickly rising [while] Siri is waiting for someone to decide if maintenance can feasibly repair the elevator while we all take the stairs to the top of the world’s tallest building.”

To be clear, I don’t discount the idea that Apple Park is figuratively on fire right now given the bone-chilly reception to Apple Intelligence since it debuted back in October. Apple is neither beyond reproach nor above criticism. By the same token, the sheer existence of this very piece pointing out the positives with Apple Intelligence is equally valid and important—not to soothe Apple’s pain, but to boost representation of people like me who use Apple products on the margins. This moment is a perfect opportunity to remind people why earnest disability coverage in tech journalism matters. Accessibility matters—and not in the “gee whiz, that’s great for folks” ways that, in all honesty, I personally find patronizing. The fact is Apple Intelligence is chockfull of de-facto accessibility features that, like Apple Pay, aren’t designed expressly for accessibility’s sake but nevertheless have applicability to enabling people with disabilities to do stuff.

Unlike Gruber, I didn’t get the statement from Apple that it’s delaying Siri features. I’m not mad about it in the slightest; it’s just a little beyond my purview. That said, I do use Apple Intelligence on a daily basis and have been attentive to what’s going on. I don’t have rose-colored glasses on. But with this morning’s news from Gurman comes (more) optimism that, should Rockwell and Federighi and troops right the ship, Apple Intelligence won’t merely improve Apple’s play and catapult it in the standings—it’ll make the company’s plethora of platforms that much more accessible for everyone.

New York City’s 504 democratic Club endorses Comptroller brad lander for mayor

In an announcement made on Thursday, New York City’s 504 Democratic Club issued a press release wherein the organization officially signaled its endorsement of the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, to be the next mayor of New York City. The 504 Democrats, as the group is colloquially known, boasts it’s “the first political club in the country focusing on the issues of concern to the community of people with disabilities.”

The 504 Democrats’ support for Lander bolsters that from fellow local organizations such as the New York Progressive Action Network and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, as well as public officials in the city’s public advocate Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso. The announcement makes note that Lander’s total campaign fund nearing $7 million, sitting at over $6.71 million.

“From his office’s MTA bus audits to their regular disability justice roundtables, Brad
Lander has been the fiercest advocate for New Yorkers with disabilities, which is why
we’re proud to endorse him as the next Mayor of this City,” Mike Schweinsburg, president of 504 Democrats, said in a statement included in the organization’s press release. “We need a mayor not only with strong management experience and the brains for the job, but also one with integrity and decency that New Yorkers can feel proud to get behind. Brad Lander is that candidate—for New Yorkers of all abilities.”

For his part, Lander said in his own statement he’s “deeply honored” for the backing.

“I’m deeply honored to have earned the endorsement of 504 Democrats, who have long
championed the inclusion of people with disabilities in the political and social fabric of
New York,” he said. “My entire career in non-profits and public service has been driven by a central mission to make our City work for every New Yorker. When I’m mayor, I’ll build on the amazing work that I’ve done as City Councilmember and Comptroller with 504 Democrats and deliver a safer, more affordable, better run New York City for all.”

Readers of my Forbes column may recognize Lander’s name. I interviewed him last July about New York City’s then-new disability employment report. In my story, I described the report, which Lander said was driven by an advisory board comprising 25 to 30 people, as a skunkworks project of sorts; the report was put together with “neither assistance nor feedback from mayor Eric Adams’ office or anyone else in City Hall.” At a high level, the report—which, incidentally, was released during Disability Pride Month—showed 1 in 6 New Yorkers identify with some sort of disability. The number is described as “[comprising] a significant proportion of New York City’s population and labor force,” with 1 in 13 New Yorkers ages 25 to 55 who identify with coping with some disability.

Lander explained to me his office’s employment report was enlightening to him and his team because “it’ll lay the groundwork for us to move forward to do additional work to look at the city’s programs and think about the impact they’re having and how they could be more effective.” Moreover, he shared sentiments which are echoed by today’s news, telling me in part he’s hopeful accessibility and disability justice will be viewed with same lens as language access and racial disparities. He expressed his desire that equality and inclusivity vis-a-vis accessibility will, with time, eventually become "one of the important accountability lenses we bring to New York City’s budget and agencies.”

“That’s how I’ll feel good about what we did for people,” Lander said.

The 504 Democrats describes itself on its website as believers in the notion that “the full integration can only be accomplished by demanding ADA compliance and work with our colleagues and representatives in public office to effect positive change,” adding “all must come to understand that anything less than an equal place at the table for disabled people is unacceptable” in politics and in society writ large. The organization, founded in 1983 and taking its name from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, further notes it’s "the first political club in the country focusing on the issues of concern to the community of people with disabilities [and remains] the only citywide political club dedicated to the civil rights of people with disabilities.” Furthermore, the 504 Democrats plainly states its mission as “[educating and informing] political representatives about disability rights and identifies candidates who align with the issues of concern to the community of people with disabilities; all disabilities.”

As the 504 Democrats note, the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the forebearer of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. I interviewed the ADA’s pioneer, retired congressman Tony Coelho (D-CA), for my Forbes column back in 2020.

Xbox Adaptive Joystick Available to buy now

Microsoft this week put its Xbox Adaptive Joystick on sale. A Microsoft Store exclusive, the $30 peripheral is positioned as a “companion for Xbox controllers” which Microsoft says can be plugged into an Xbox or PC, and is configurable with custom button remapping. The company has also posted a support document on the new device.

The Xbox Adaptive Joystick, a complementary product to Microsoft’s critically acclaimed Xbox Adaptive Controller, is designed for people with limited mobility—particularly in terms of fine-motor skills. On the product’s webpage, Microsoft says the Xbox Adaptive Joystick “helps make gaming more accessible for however you play.” Moreover, the company notes the accessory exists as a companion to the aforementioned Xbox Adaptive Controller and the bog standard Xbox controller.

Microsoft’s accessories for Xbox are analogous to that from Sony. I covered the Access Controller for PlayStation 5 extensively over the last couple years for my Forbes column; it’s good to see gaming heavyweights in Microsoft and Sony level up play in the accessibility arena. In an exclusive profile of disability-in-gaming nonprofit organization AbleGamers posted last May, then-chief operations officer and community outreach director Steve Spohn told me in part in an interview it’s a “strange time” seeing ostensible rivals in Microsoft and Sony banding together in an effort to “try to push the world forward on gaming accessibility.” Spohn, along with AbleGamers’ founder and executive director Mark Barlet, lauded the massive increases in inclusivity of the video game industry in the last several years. Nevertheless, Barlet said there remain “dark spots,” but overall the confluence of progressively-minded development studio and the prominence of social media has enabled people with disabilities to “advocate for themselves in a way we haven’t seen before,” adding technology’s ever-burgeoning capabilities have enabled game makers to “really lean into” creating more accessible and equitable user experiences for members of the disability community.

“We’re seeing new companies that haven’t even released their first game investing in making sure the experience is accessible,” Barlet said about the rise of accessibility in the video game industry. “Then on the flip side, we have studios that aren’t doing much at all. It’s getting better. It’s better than it’s ever been, for sure. But it’s not perfect.”

HBO Announces ‘The Last Of Us’ Will soon stream in american sign language on max

HBO on Wednesday announced its original series The Last Of Us will soon be available to stream on its Max streaming service in American Sign Language (ASL). The special version will debut with next month’s Season 2 premiere, which drops on Sunday, April 13. HBO boasts Max is “the first streaming platform to offer [an] ASL version alongside premiere episodes of a major series.” Season 1 in ASL will be available on March 31.

The ASL translation in The Last Of Us is performed by Daniel Durant.

According to HBO, today’s news represents an “expansion in availability of ASL programming continues to build on Max’s commitment to create a premium and accessible streaming experience for all subscribers.” The Last Of Us in ASL follows ASL versions of Warner Brothers’ films such as Barbie and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. HBO notes its so-called “With ASL” titles are featured in the Max app alongside key art with the sign language symbol. Beyond ASL, HBO says Max supports accessibility features such as audio descriptions, closed captions, screen reader support, and much more.

“We are thrilled to expand our ASL program and debut our first HBO Original series in ASL with The Last Of Us,” Naomi Waibel, Warner Brothers Discovery’s senior vice president of global product management, said in a statement. “This debut brings the show to life in an authentic and fully accessible way for Deaf audiences and is another meaningful step towards our goal of offering an inclusive streaming experience.”

That The Last Of Us is getting the ASL glow-up is, while certainly notable, not exactly new or novel. The National Hockey League, or NHL, has worked with Deaf advocacy company PXP to build ASL-centric broadcasts of the league’s games for Deaf fans. Last year, I posted an interview with PXP founder and CEO Brice Christianson about the partnership, which includes the first ASL version of the annual Winter Classic game. A fellow CODA, Christianson called the NHL “pioneers” for its trailblazing work on the “NHL × ASL” series. This year’s Winter Classic, played on New Year’s Eve, saw the Chicago Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field. The Blues won, 6-2.

The Last Of Us series is an adaptation of the popular video game (for PlayStation and Windows) franchise of the same name. It’s developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. A third season of the show is currently in development.

How ‘Wonder Pets: In the City’ Carries the torch for empathy, inclusion at Apple TV+

Back in mid-December, Apple TV+ put out a press release announcing the then-new animated children’s series Wonder Pets: In the City. The show, produced by Nickelodeon Animation and developed by Emmy-winning author, illustrator, and director Jennifer Oxley, is described as “adorable” and meant to encourage children and their families to “come together to meet charming new characters and go on exciting adventures that spark curiosity and celebrate our unique differences.” Wonder Pets: In the City chronicles the adventures of heroic characters Izzy the Guinea Pig, Tate the Snake, and Zuri the Bunny. By day, the creatures live in a New York City kindergarten class, but by night, they travel the globe in their so-called “Jetcar” to rescue fellow animals in musical, operatic adventures. The show is a spinoff series of Wonder Pets.

I sat down with Oxley via videoconference late last year, not long before Forbes let me loose and my column ended, to discuss making Wonder Pets: In the City. She explained she likes to believe the series should be enjoyable to “everybody,” but said its target demographic is preschoolers. The premise of the show, she told me, was the class pets spring to life once the students and teachers leave school for the day. A craft project, a telephone made from a juice box, starts ringing with a distress cal from an animal in trouble. Oxley characterized Wonder Pets: In the City as having a “music-forward [and] mini-operetta” format, adding dialogue weaves between spoken lines and music. As the heroes are saving animals, they’re singing all the while, according to Oxley.

Notably, Wonder Pets: In the City includes characters created with disability in mind. There’s a snake who’s disabled, as well as an elephant who’s visually impaired. Oxley explained these classroom pets aren’t superheroes in the classical sense—they have no superpowers—but nevertheless “they bring their unique differences and points of view… they are powerful and can do anything,” she said. Teamwork and collaboration, Oxley added, is the trio’s superpower. In an effort to challenger herself and the rest of her creative team, Oxley told me she wanted to “push the storytelling forward” by trying to create stories with more socio-emotional tugs and inclusivity at their heart. The aforementioned snake embodies the push for greater inclusiveness. As Oxley said, he slithers rather than walks. He has no arms. His appearance, she told me, is a “great vehicle for telling stories.” She shares an anecdote about an episode in which a mother chicken has a problem in a runaway egg. When the heroes get to the farm to try to help locate the egg on the lam, the mother chicken wants nothing to do with Tate the Snake because, as Oxley said, he’s “slimy and sneaky.” Tate has to sit out the adventure due to her reticence, but the mother chicken eventually comes to realize “he’s not what she expected at all [and] she was wrong to judge him without getting to know him.”

The axiom to not judge a book by its cover absolutely applies to disabled people.

“Ultimately, we’ve got these three pets who have very different personalities and they’re different types of animals—yet they’re best friends and they come together as one,” Oxley said of her protagonists. “They can work together and find a way to bring all of their strengths to save the day. I’m hoping audience will feel that sort of love and heart and joy of helping others. I’m hoping that will be a takeaway message for them.”

However ostensibly tardy this piece is in being published because I spoke with Oxley before the holidays—running a one-man newsroom ain’t easy—the fact the story is running this week is fortuitous. Apple TV+ is widely known, and critically acclaimed, for cultural phenomenons such as Severance and Ted Lasso. CODA became the first streaming film to win a Best Picture Oscar in 2022. Severance is showing the hotly-anticipated Season 2 finale on Friday. Ted Lasso is coming back for a fourth season. I love both shows myself. Where Apple TV+ gets far less adulation lies in what Oxley and Wonder Pets: In the City have embraced: inclusivity. To wit, it’s extremely meaningful Apple TV+ is home to a slew of shows featuring disability prominently and matter-of-factly. From See to Little Voice to Best Foot Forward to El Deafo—incidentally, all of which I’ve covered in the past—Apple TV+ has an impressive roster of shows that put disabled people in the spotlight. None of them are active in terms of new episodes, and it’s fair to perhaps not like them as entertainment, but all are worth a watch if only to see people a lot like Tate the Snake: to see someone who look different actually be normal and, in the case of See, seeing blind people seriously kicking ass while simultaneously paying homage to the norms of the Blind and low vision community.

In a society where disability is commonly seen as a fate worse than death, and disabled people portrayed as moribund and generally hapless, that Apple TV+ is home to so many shows which depict the polar opposite is significant and downright triumphant. Although Severance gets the glitz and glam, and deservedly so, it means something, as a lifelong disabled person, to see others who look like me loom large in big budget Hollywood productions. Apple’s TV+ leaders in Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg both are deserving of the utmost credit for, amongst other things, taking the company’s ethos on accessibility with its consumer tech products and applying it to the myriad projects which emanate from Cupertino’s ever-burgeoning entertainment division.

For her part, Oxley credited pre-existing relationships with Apple TV+ executives such as Tara Sorensen, who leads children’s programming for the streaming service, as one reason Wonder Pets: In the City came to be. Apple, Oxley told me, has its own sensibility; she called it a “fun challenge and collaboration” to work with them in bringing Wonder Pets: In the City to life. Oxley wanted to stay true to the work, but make it pair well with Apple’s vision for shepherding its nearly 6-year-old entertainment arm.

When asked about the future, Oxley expressed enthusiasm and optimism. She confessed to not being the type who’s terminally online, toiling over umpteenth Reddit threads, but she’s aware there’s always going to be feedback, both good and bad. It’s her hope Wonder Pets: In the City will be as well-received as the original, as she knows it’s hard for reboots to pass muster with diehard fans. She’s confident, however, the new series stays true to the old and thinks audiences will pick up on that. Oxley wishes audiences will be appreciative of how “a lot of the original DNA is still in this new series.” She’s also hopeful Wonder Pets: In the City will attract new viewers, telling me the music in particular, what with recording a live orchestra for each episode, should resonate pretty deeply with veterans and rookies of the Wonder Pets canon alike.

All 13 episodes of Wonder Pets: In the City are available on Apple TV+ now.

the New M4 MacBook Air’s killer feature isn’t Apple silicon—it’s accessibility

Following yet another teaser tweet from CEO Tim Cook, Apple earlier this week announced refreshed iPad Air and MacBook Air models. The computer, which Apple touts is “the world’s most popular laptop,” is powered by the M4 chip, sports an all-new—and very pretty—sky blue finish, and starts at $999. Technologically speaking, there’s absolutely nothing bad or wrong with my M2 MacBook Air—but I’m really loving that blue (my favorite color!) and can’t wait to get my hands on one in person at some point.

The M4 MacBook Air (and the refreshed Mac Studio) is available to pre-order now. It goes on sale beginning Wednesday, March 12, according to Apple’s announcement.

A blue laptop notwithstanding, color isn’t the most interesting aspect of the new Air.

From an accessibility perspective, what’s most interesting about Apple’s latest and greatest MacBook is mentioned later in the company’s press release. By way of April’s public release of macOS Sequoia 15.4, Apple says Mac users will gain the ability to set up their shiny blue laptop with only their iPhone. According to 9to5 Mac’s Jeff Benjamin, the so-called “proximity setup” functionality is present in the iOS 18.4 beta. He reports the proximity setup feature works “just like” it does when setting up a new iPhone or iPad. To wit, bringing one’s phone nearest a Mac will display the setup card akin to, for instance, setting up AirPods or even a new Apple TV box. The masses will claim this feature is convenient, and it is, but it arguably matters more in terms of accessibility.

As someone who regularly gets Apple review units—some embargoed, others not—I can attest to the “problem” with configuring so many new devices. While I heartily acknowledge my position of privilege in the tech media and know it’s the quintessential first-world problem, nevertheless there are practical concerns. Namely, it would be extremely annoying (and inaccessible) to put all this review hardware through their proverbial paces without help from Apple’s proximity setup feature. It makes things so much easier—I needn’t have to sign into my iCloud account nor give my Wi-Fi credentials; my iPhone does all the requisite heavy lifting for me. Why this matters from a disability point of view is obvious: it takes a relatively considerable amount of cognitive load and visual/motor skills to remember, say, one’s iCloud or Wi-Fi information. Then a person must type it all in, which can be taxing both in terms of visual and motor acuity depending on one’s needs and tolerances. Granted, the system(s) do prompt users to enable accessibility features during the maiden voyage of sorts, but the point remains valid. As with other aspects of the Apple Experience, proximity setup is as much a de-facto accessibility feature as Apple Pay or Apple using iCloud to propagate AirPods pairing with people’s constellation of devices. It’s these ostensibly mundane implementation details that make Apple devices beloved by so many in the disability community. Like Boyz II Men once said, the little things mean a lot.

Given my intimate familiarity with the iOS/iPadOS setup process, I imagine what’s coming in the aforementioned software updates will be just as accessible and useful in setting up new Macs. I, for one, am thrilled to see Apple bring the functionality to macOS, not merely as a gadget reviewer—but especially as a lifelong disabled person.

Inside Pittsburgh International Airport’s Efforts to make Air Travel Accessible to All

Take a glance at my Flighty statistics from 2024 and you’ll notice I flew a lot last year. According to the app on my iPhone, I took 15 flights—two of them cross-country trips—spanning nearly 17,000 miles, 9 airports, and 4 airlines. It was the most I’ve ever flown in my life—which is significant because I didn’t start flying with regularity until 2014. However frequent I have flown in the past year, however, one thing is assured: I have utter disdain for airports. The actual flying, I have no problem with; this aligns with my similar experience riding in autonomous vehicles like Waymo. My problem is the rigamarole of traversing the airport as a lifelong disabled person. Especially with security, it’s been my experience that, of the many airports I’ve been through in the last decade or so of getting on airplanes, none of them are particularly accommodating nor empathetic of the disability community. As someone whose anxiety and depression already is sky-high on the ground, the stress meter routinely runneth over each and every time I leave my house for the closest airport in San Francisco International.

It’s these personal experiences which attracted me to telling the story of Jason Rudge and his family. A heavy equipment operator at Pittsburgh International Airport, Rudge’s son, Presley, is disabled. In an interview with me conducted late last year via videoconference, Rudge explained Presley was put into a preschool readiness class when he was 2 years old. The class was designed for children with disabilities, and Presley had a hard time being there at first. He would tolerate being there only 15 minutes before having a meltdown. Rudge and his wife were prepared to leave with Presley before the teacher encouraged them to stay. There was a room, the teacher said, where Presley could go to calm down and readjust himself. Rudge likened the room to essentially being a “big closet” with amenities like bean bags, string lights, and a disco ball. The sensory room, as it’s known, proved to be revelatory for Presley, with his dad saying he “loved it in there” and eventually got to a place where he could actually be back in the classroom, now ready and willing to engage with his peers.

Working at Pittsburgh International is more than a 9-to-5 job for Rudge. It has a sensory room of its own called Presley’s Place—not to be confused with Pesky’s Pole in Boston. On its website, Pittsburgh International describes Presley’s Place as a “calming respite for travelers with sensory sensitivities and their families to de-escalate prior to getting on a plane or even after landing.” The airport has a video on its YouTube channel. According to Rudge, Presley’s Place is situated next to an accessible restroom, replete with sinks that can move lower or higher so as to accommodate wheelchair users.

Crucially, Rudge emphasized Presley’s Place isn’t solely for children or the disabled.

“It’s for everybody,” he said of his son’s namesake room. “[It’s for] first-time flyers [or] military with PTSD who doesn’t like to be in crowds. We’re trying to let everybody know this isn’t just for children. It’s not just for people with disabilities. It’s for everybody that really needs it… for people scared of flying or who never flown before and is nervous. You can go in there and calm down and get away from everything for your flight.”

Christina Cassotis, who’s chief executive of Pittsburgh International, explained to me Rudge came to airport leaders with the idea the place could benefit from having a special room similar to the one his son thrived in at school. She met with Rudge in person to discuss the concept, coming away so impressed by his thoroughness she told him “we were doing this” right then and there. What eventually would become Presley’s Place was a natural extension of what Cassotis and team were doing to further inclusivity, as she said accessibility and the notion of “travel for all” already was an area of intense focus at Pittsburgh International. Presley’s Place, Cassotis said, “really put us on the map nationally” when it came to accessibility and inclusivity.

“We believe very strongly in the idea of travel for all,” Cassotis said. “Pittsburgh International Airport is focused on improving the passenger experience, particularly for communities that haven’t always been at the forefront of the industry’s mind.”

Cassotis underscored Rudge’s sentiments that Presley’s Place is welcoming to literally anyone who needs to be there, telling me the room is “not limited to any single group.” She did concede, however, Presley’s Place is “geared towards” individuals with sensory sensitivities such as those coping with autism, as well as others in the neurodivergent community. What’s more, there’s even a cabin installation, complete with jetway, so that nervous passengers are able to “understand what a flight is like.”

“Sensory rooms like [Presley’s Place] mean the difference between an individual or a family being able to travel at all,” Cassotis said.

Presley’s Place celebrated its 5-year anniversary not long ago, with Rudge and Cassotis both marveling at the room’s success. Rudge said it’s a “great thing” to consider how far Presley’s Place has come in the last few years, telling me the airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan (and in San Francisco) have incorporated similarly-modeled sensory rooms. Cassotis reiterated Pittsburgh International being a “proud national leader” in accessibility and inclusivity, telling me the airport has received numerous inquiries from other airports on how Presley’s Place was designed and developed.

“Every aspect of the design was considered because we spoke to affected individuals directly and got their input—adults, children and families,” Cassotis said.

She added: “Presley’s Place is industry-leading. [It’s] been recognized across the world as the most comprehensive sensory-friendly space anywhere in the travel industry.”

Rudge firmly believes Pittsburgh International “hit the nail on the head” with building Presley’s Place. It’s the best room of its kind he’s seen anywhere; he told me he’s heartened to know other airports are following Pittsburgh’s innovative lead in this realm. He hopes every airport in the world can someday have its own Presley’s Place.

“The feedback on [Presley’s Place] sensory room in particular has been fantastic,” Cassotis said of the room’s reception. “We hear from travelers all the time thanking us for the room and our role in helping make someone’s trip better. Travel for all is really at the heart of what we do as part of passenger experience.”

As to the future, Cassotis said. Pittsburgh International will “continue to be a leader in accessibility,” adding she’s “so proud” of staff who worked so diligently on Presley’s Place. She called Rusge’s brainstorm “truly grassroots” and lauded the airport’s work in working with autism awareness groups to carefully select appropriate fixtures such as furniture, lighting, and more. Funds for the project came from “sizable donations” from local groups, as well as stuff like furniture being happily donated for the room.

Hundreds of passengers visit Presley’s Place annually, according to Cassotis. She added airport leaders are “constantly [hearing] from them how key” Presley’s Place is to shaping a positive experience while passing through Pittsburgh International.

How Asisat Oshoala and the GSMA is Making Technology more accessible to everyone

I like to believe 2024 was a seminal year for growing my lifelong sports fanaticism. To wit, last year saw the widening of its aperture so as to focus strongly on women’s sports. In March, I travelled to Las Vegas for my first in-person women’s event in the NCAA basketball tournament; I got to see Cameron Brink play for Stanford not long before the Los Angeles Sparks picked her second overall in the WNBA draft. Then in May, I went to see what was the NWSL’s newest franchise in the expansion Bay FC club play a home game at San Jose’s PayPal Park. And just last month, I excitedly bought a JuJu Watkins t-shirt because I’ve become such a huge fan of Watkins’ play for USC.

Given this, you’d understand my excitement over recently interviewing Asisat Oshoala.

I sat down virtually with the Nigeria-born Oshoala, who plays for the aforementioned Bay FC, earlier this month to discuss her career and her ambitions off the pitch. The latter is anchored by the eponymous Asisat Oshoala Foundation, of which Oshoala described as establishing “a couple years ago” as a way to “create [soccer] playing opportunities for young girls in Nigeria.” Her organization, Oshoala told me, gives young girls “[an] opportunity [and] give them a platform to showcase their talent.” To that end, Oshoala invites high-profile players such as those who play for the Nigerian national team to play against in matches; these opportunities give the girls in Nigeria “hope for the future and have the confidence and know that they can also reach greater heights.”

Another philanthropic effort from Oshoala involves her association with GSMA. The nonprofit organization describes its mission on its website as “unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change,” adding its goal is to “unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry and society thrive.” One of the areas in which the GSMA wishes to make the world a better place—and which is endearing to Oshoala—is closing what’s called the Usage Gap. According to the GSMA, the Usage Gap “prevents individuals from being able to access critical digital services such as healthcare, education, ecommerce, financial services, and income-generating opportunities.” For her part, the GSMA tapped Oshoala as the organization’s spokesperson for the Breaking Barriers campaign aimed at bridging the Usage Gap.

As the GSMA soberingly notes on its website, 3.1 billion people, or 39% of the world’s population, reside in areas serviced by mobile broadband—but do not use mobile internet service. Likewise, almost 90% of unconnected people do have access to mobile broadband, yet face other barriers which the GSMA says “[prevents] them from using digital services.” This, the organization notes, represents the Usage Gap.

Oshoala explained the girls she serves through her foundation not only receive soccer (or, football) training. To technology and the GSMA’s mission, she told me the girls also receive computer training and other work-related skills because, as Oshoala said, “we like to teach them other things as well.” Conversations between Oshoala’s team and the GSMA centered on how technology can better the lives of girls in Africa, with Oshoala telling me the tech space is “a great one” for the girls and her team felt strongly the collaboration with GSMA made perfect sense in terms of shared values.

“[The work with GSMA] is going to be helpful in society, especially in Africa,” Oshoala said. “A lot of people don’t have access to the internet… this is going to be a great step.”

When asked about access to technology in Africa, Oshoala told me it’s gotten way better than it used to be but there’s still a ways to go. A lot of people on the continent do have access to the internet, but many do not—and those are the people Oshoala and GSMA are trying to reach. There are other limiting factors, including infrastructure and product costs. Financially, Oshoala said, cell phones in Africa are still pretty expensive; it’s also true internet access in itself is too pricey for many. A byproduct of this lack of access in Africa is it engenders a commensurate lack of interest amongst many folks.

“We have millions of people who have access to the internet, but we still have millions who do not have access to technology,” Oshoala said.

At a high level, what Oshoala and GSMA are endeavoring to do is all about accessibility. Oshoala and everyone is addressing accessibility in the literal sense, working to get technology accessible to people in Africa. Of course, I’d be remiss not to point out the obvious by saying accessibility matters in the disability sense as well. To wit, surely there are disabled people in Africa who want to use technology and the internet. It’s worth it even for social media alone, as it’s highly plausible social media is a primary way they socialize with others. Likewise, technology may be necessary in order to connect with one’s medical team. The salient point is simple: technology is truly like electricity insofar as it’s an essential good for sustenance beyond even nerdier facets such as learning to code, for example. This is deeply resonant with Oshoala, as technology has helped her become the renowned professional athlete she is today.

Cliche as it sounds, Oshoala truly is giving back to the people. She ultimately wants to empower young girls to pursue their dreams and provide better lives for their families.

“I know there are lots of people who could have been in a better position as well if they had access to the internet,” she said. “It’s about connection. When there is lack of connection, that [limits] opportunities. I just look at my journey, and I feel like there could have been a million and one Africans on the Internet in the world if the connection was easier [and] accessible to everybody and everyone has access to the internet. It makes me feel great that I have this opportunity to work with a company like GSMA to help me achieve my dream of helping more people in society get internet access.”

Oshoala said her family in Africa is “happy to support” her in all her pursuits.

Looking towards the future, Oshoala expressed optimism. She told me she wants to continue her work and believes 2025 will be an exciting year. The collaboration with GSMA will enable her to push even harder on helping people in Africa, as she wants to equip people with the tools they need to go into the future ready for success. Technology is integral to achieving such success, and Oshoala plans to do things like establish free Wi-Fi networks in Africa and give away free cell phones for people to use.

“We’re going to do a lot and make [people] see the world differently,” Oshoala said.

Apple Announces AirPods Pro Hearing Aid Functionality expands to united Kingdom

Apple on Monday put out a press release in which the company announced its hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro 2 is now available in the United Kingdom. News of the functionality’s expansion comes a few months after Apple launched the hearing aid feature in the United States; it was part of the iOS 18.1 update—the very same that unleashed Apple Intelligence unto the world—delivered to users at the end of October.

Apple boasts the hearing aid feature is “clinical-grade,” but simultaneously stresses the software is intended only for people who cope with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

“At Apple, we believe that technology can help people live healthier lives, and we’re delighted to bring the Hearing Aid feature to the [United Kingdom], offering our users an end-to-end hearing health experience with AirPods Pro 2,” Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of health, said in a statement included in the company’s announcement.

As I said when commenting on the company’s 2024, it’s my firm belief that the advent of the hearing aid feature exemplifies the Apple’s oft-stated ambition to make products designed to facilitate the betterment of the world. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly (and poignantly) than in Apple’s Heartstrings holiday ad which ran towards the end of last year. The spot depicts a family gathering on Christmas morning to open their gifts from Santa Claus. The patriarch of the clan enables the hearing aid function on his AirPods Pro so he can listen to his young adult daughter serenade him after hearing the muffled sounds of everyone’s excited conversation and the ruffling of wrapping paper.

As I wrote back in November, it’s significant that an accessibility feature be thrust into the spotlight for a prominent campaign such as Apple’s annual holiday commercial. Of course there’s marketing and consumerism angles—Apple shrewdly relies on emotional appeal to goad people into buying AirPods partly because they have the potential to better lives—but the arguably more salient point is how disability is put at the forefront. In this sense, Heartstrings is practically a cookie cutter piece, conceptually speaking, to others launched in recent years from Apple. To wit, last year’s The Relay short film comes to mind, as do others like The Greatest and The Lost Voice.

I interviewed Apple’s Sarah Herrlinger about AirPods and hearing aids in December.

Apple’s Newest Budget Phone Brings Accessibility in more ways than one

Apple this week announced the iPhone 16e. The company put out a press release on it, but it also posted a video to YouTube. I chose to indulge in the latter medium for entertainment value. Wednesday’s news came after CEO Tim Cook took to X to tease what he coyly characterized as introducing the “newest member” of the Apple family.

The entry level iPhone, which Apple says costs $599 and ships on February 28, replaces the iPhone SE as the “low end” of the iPhone product line. There’s a certain fortuitousness with the launch of the 16e, as it comes soon after Forbes let me loose late last month after a four-year stint as part of its contributor network. My first story for my dearly departed column, posted in April 2020, was about the then-new iPhone SE. What’s more, the release of the SE model the 16e is supplanting, released in 2022, was the subject of my first-ever embargoed iPhone review—also published to my column.

After a day or so of digesting the iPhone 16e news, I believe it largely compels from an accessibility angle. iPhones, regardless of their place in Apple’s pecking order, are unabashedly premium, top-tier smartphones. They’re unquestionably expensive. By and large, lots of disabled people cannot afford anything but the budget-conscious iPhone. Whatever niggles the nerds have about the 16e’s feature set—more on that below—the bird’s eye take in an accessibility context is the 16e holds a tremendous value proposition. To wit, not only can a disabled person get an iPhone and all the prestige and capability that comes with it, they gain access to what’s arguably the industry’s best all-around suite of accessibility features. This isn’t a trivial matter; I, what with my highest-end iPhone 16 Pro Max, live and breathe through my phone. It is, without question, my most important and oft-used computer. My life is on there.

The bottom line: if all you have to spend is $600 and you want an iPhone, the 16e is it.

Now for the particulars, beginning with the most important metric of all: price. At $599, the 16e is significantly costlier than the aforementioned $429 iPhone SE that was put out to pasture. That difference is nearly $200, which is a lot of money to many folks. It’s highly plausible a disabled person eyeing an iPhone may need to look elsewhere—perhaps the refurbished market or somewhere like Amazon or Best Buy. There’s no shame in shopping the secondary market—I’ve seen reports of iPhone 15 Pro devices on Amazon for roughly the same cost as a brand-new 16e—many people find it comforting to buy new from the vendor for the same reason Linus loves carrying around his blanket everywhere. Especially from a quality assurance perspective, it can be a crapshoot at times in knowing the actual working condition of secondhand electronics.

Now onto the technical attributes. Most curious to me amongst Apple’s choices in building the iPhone 16e is to leave the Dynamic Island and MagSafe on the proverbial cutting room floor. To the former, the company just a few short months ago crowed about the base iPhone 16 getting the Dynamic Island. In the almost three years of its existence, I’ve found the Dynamic Island to be a greatly accessible way to keep tabs on information like kitchen timers and, catering to my avowed fanaticism of all things sports, game updates from Apple Sports. Component costs notwithstanding, I’d imagine a person with low vision contemplating the 16e could be disappointed by its lack of the Dynamic Island—causing them to look elsewhere for a similarly priced iPhone with the feature. I remember speaking with Alan Dye, who helps lead Apple’s industrial design group, following the iPhone 14 media event in September 2022. He was enamored with my brief comments on how the Dynamic Island could impact accessibility for the disability community, telling me it was a priority for his team.

As for the latter, the absence of MagSafe in the 16e is conspicuous as all hell. I’ve gone on the record innumerable times over time in which I extol the virtues of magnets in tech like MagSafe and the iPad’s Smart Covers. While the 16 does support Qi charging, MagSafe is better because, by virtue of physics, the magnetic attraction makes it such that a person needn’t fiddle with alignment to get the phone in the right spot to begin charging. Qi charging does have accessibility merit of its own—namely, a disabled person with questionable hand-eye coordination is saved from plugging in a cable into the iPhone’s USB-C port—but MagSafe talks the general concept a step further by using magnets to expedite the process. Like I said about the Dynamic Island, the omission of MagSafe in the 16e is yet another addition to the con column that could cause a disabled person to look elsewhere—and for a perfectly legitimate reason.

Lastly, some (more) thoughts on ProMotion. The 16e has an ostensibly lowly 60Hz display compared to the standard 120Hz on its more beefed-up brethren. The nerd set and the mainstream tech media like to say it’s bad Apple continues to sell phones with 60Hz displays, but I say the consternation is somewhat overwrought. This is a hill I’ve died on many times over the last several years; I wholly support technological progress and thus bumping the baseline to 90Hz. My problem with the community’s collective stance on high refresh rate screens is they make it sound like it’s table stakes for computers to be 120Hz. In other words, to have 60Hz on, for instance, the 16e will make for a demonstrably worse user experience. I just don’t buy it. What the press and YouTubers fail to realize is not everyone has the ability to really appreciate smoother scrolling and more fluid animations. It isn’t a matter of taking away ProMotion from people who like it; it’s a matter of understanding literally not everyone benefits. It’s disingenuous (and dare I say, privileged) to bemoan the “there’s still 60Hz in 2025” when the reality is it isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Let me be crystal clear in saying, sure, Apple should boost the baseline to 90Hz in the name of progress in the same way they finally moved to 16GB of RAM in MacBooks. At the end of the day, however, ProMotion is not a make-or-break feature; tech enthusiasts would do well to temper their expectations. While I intellectually acknowledge ProMotion is on my 16 Pro Max, my low vision is so bad that ProMotion effectively doesn’t exist in practice. It may as well be the basic 60Hz. Is my usage made worse by this? Not one iota, I promise you.

Anyway, the iPhone 16e certainly looks the part of an eminently capable, modern budget iPhone. It’s perplexing in places, but remains an iPhone. That counts for a lot.

Inside Nvidia’s New ‘Signs’ Platform and the Meeting of ASL And Artificial Intelligence

I’ve been fortunate to cover a bevy of tech companies in my career as a journalist—Intel, OpenAI, Salesforce, amongst countless others—that, were you to play a quick game of word association, accessibility likely wouldn’t be one you’d blurt out. As it turns out, however, all three Bay Area-based companies indeed do care an awful lot about making technology usable by disabled people. In fact, to discover that a chipmaker like Intel and an enterprise software company in Salesforce—both areas which ostensibly have absolutely zero pertinence to accessibility—works so hard to make their wares inclusive to the disability community is simultaneously enlightening and heartening.

So it goes for Nvidia.

In a blog post published on Thursday, the Santa Clara-based company announced its new Signs platform. The software, which Nvidia describes as a “validated dataset for sign language learners and developers of ASL-based AI applications,” was conceived and developed in collaboration with the American Society for Deaf Children and creative agency Hello Monday, in an effort to increase representation of American Sign Language in AI-powered datasets. Nvidia notes ASL ranks third in the United States in terms of prevalence, behind only English and Spanish, yet there exist “vastly fewer AI tools developed with ASL data” compared to the aforementioned top two languages.

Nvidia has posted a video demonstrating Signs on its YouTube channel.

“Sign language learners can access the platform’s validated library of ASL signs to expand their vocabulary with the help of a 3D avatar that demonstrates signs—and use an AI tool that analyzes webcam footage to receive real-time feedback on their signing. Signers of any skill level can contribute by signing specific words to help build an open-source video dataset for ASL,” Nvidia wrote in part in its announcement. “The dataset—which NVIDIA aims to grow to 400,000 video clips representing 1,000 signed words—is being validated by fluent ASL users and interpreters to ensure the accuracy of each sign, resulting in a high-quality visual dictionary and teaching tool.”

In a brief interview conducted earlier this week ahead of today’s news, Nvidia’s manager of trustworthy AI product Michael Boone—coincidentally, he’s credited with the byline for the company’s blog post—explained to me Nvidia decided to work on the Signs project because they saw a need for it. A “large majority” of parents who have deaf children, Boone said, don’t know ASL and aren’t learning it; children are developing their signing skills outside of the home, he added, but Nvidia seized on an opportunity to help bridge the proverbial gap in terms of communicating with one’s nuclear family.

“We want [Signs] to help bridge the communication gap,” Boone said. “Looking at what had been done for [signing] individual letters, we figured it would be helpful to take it to the next step and create a database and user dictionary for words and short phrases.”

When asked about the technical aspects of Signs, Boone told me the state-of-the art for learning ASL is to watch a bunch of YouTube videos and maybe work with a live interpreter. What makes Nvidia’s work so novel, and so interesting, he said to me, is there heretofore hasn’t existed a way for ASL learners to garner real-time feedback on their language for free. According to Boone, Signs is an example of computer vision: using artificial intelligence, Signs has the ability not only to detect where the different parts of the body are, it’s also able to understand how a user is placing their hand as well as the “sweeping movements” of signs. All told, Boone said Nvidia’s overarching goal, technologically speaking, is increasing fluidity and ensuring the software is properly instructing the user to become proficient at speaking sign language.

At a macro level, Boone said the primary goal with Signs is twofold. The first, of course, is pedagogical. Nvidia (and its partner organizations) wants to teach people ASL. Secondly, the platform also exists as a conduit through which Boone a team can “curate a data set that can then be used to enable more accessible AI technology.” Crucially, Boone said Signs has been purposefully built by and for the ASL community, telling me the platform is expressly designed to involve and engage the community.

As I wrote at the outset, the reality is Nvidia is not an institution necessarily revered for assistive technologies. For his part, Boone acknowledged the company’s relatively nascent reputation in this realm and said Signs indeed does align with Nvidia’s “founding principles” that “enable everyone.” From ideation to delivery, he told me, Nvidia’s North Star always is to build technology which “enables as many groups as possible to benefit.” Specific to Signs, Boone said it’s something that’s “high quality [and] has robust data and [involves] all stakeholders within the community, from research to product and our future partners who will benefit from using this data.”

Besides Boone, I also had the chance to connect with Cheri Dowling. Dowling serves as executive director of the American Society for Deaf Children. In a short interview with me, she called Signs “a great tool” and said when she first learned of the project, she immediately knew her organization should back it. Dowling expounded further, saying Signs is a tool with which ASL learners can hone their fluency through what she characterized as a “fun website.” She emphasized how Signs gives users grace if they forget a sign, as they’re allowed to look it up and practice while taking solace they’re getting the mechanics right. As to future versions, Dowling said she’d like Signs to grow from single words to phrases and someday even full-on sentences. “With technology the way it is these days, the possibilities [for improvement] are endless,” she said.

When asked about feedback on the new software, Boone told me Signs has undergone extensive testing both internally and externally “for several months” now. He’s been nearly anticipating today’s public launch, telling me Signs marks the beginning of a journey that sees great potential to “create additional, accessible technologies.” Boone further noted Nvidia has partnered with the Rochester Institute of Technology for help with Signs’ user interface and user experience. The big idea here, he said, was to ensure the creation of a “transparent, safe, and explainable solution” for learning ASL. “I’m excited for what this dataset will be able to be used—not just for the user dictionary, but also an eye towards [making] future technologies as well,” Boone said.

For Dowling’s part, she said her team is “really excited” to see Signs set forth unto the world. Her organization offers online ASL classes and she noted Signs will be heartily recommended henceforth as a way to bolster and supplement the classwork. Dowling said the Nvidia team has been “great” to work alongside on making Signs a reality.

“It’s so important for families who have children using ASL to learn the language,” she said. “This is a fun way to do it together.”

Looking towards the future, Boone told me he portends it “full of possibilities.” He reiterated Nvidia’s raison d’être of building technologies for everyone, saying Nvidia was founded to “solve the world’s greatest challenges.” He also expressed appreciation of, and enthusiasm for, artificial intelligence’s capacity for doing genuine good. The advent of Signs, Boone told me, is an exciting development for Nvidia that “not only teaches but is also helping to enable other members of the ecosystem.”

Apple and Netflix Must Do Right and Finally Make TV App Peace for accessibility’s Sake

The internet was abuzz on Friday when it appeared Netflix and Apple had buried the proverbial hatchet with regards to integrating with the TV app when it was reported—many times over, at that—Netflix material was miraculously appearing in the TV app’s Watchlist section. This part of the software is where Apple allows users to see which TV shows and movies are currently in progress; clicking on something will immediately take you to whatever app—Prime Video, for example—you used to play the content. Companies such as Amazon and ESPN, to name but two participants, must to elect to support said Watchlist integration. The main thrust of today’s jubilance over Netflix’s ostensible acquiescence is because the Los Gatos-based streaming giant is the elephant-sized sore thumb on the many hands of TV app supporters on tvOS.

Alas, The Verge’s Chris Welch dutifully reports the integration was “a mistake.”

“Netflix spokesperson MoMo Zhou has told The Verge that this morning’s window where Netflix appeared as a ‘participating’ service in Apple TV—including temporary support for the watchlist and ‘continue watching’ features—was an error and has now been rolled back,” he wrote earlier today in a followup story. “That’s shame. The jubilation in our comments on the original story was palpable.”

The point of the Watchlist integration is, of course, about greater convenience. It’s more convenient to have one’s still-in-progress watches, across an expanse of services, collated into one neat and tidy location. As I’ve argued innumerable times over the years, however, convenience and accessibility aren’t one and the same. Beyond sheer convenience, the reality is the TV app’s Watchlist feature is a de-facto accessibility feature; instead of app-hopping, trying to figure out which movie or television show streams where, it’s more accessible to launch the TV app to find it there. This is especially beneficial for someone with cognitive disabilities, as the mental load associated with trying to remember where—and how—to find a particular piece of content is the furthest thing from trivial. Do it enough and it sullies the overall user experience. It makes watching Netflix inaccessible if only because it’s highly plausible a person has trouble remembering that, for instance, A Man On The Inside is on Netflix. (A series, I should add, is set in San Francisco and well worth watching.) Personally, I have no such trouble usually remembering what streams where, but nonetheless appreciate the TV app integration for accessibility’s sake. I was as jubilant as everyone else at today’s news for that very reason, and it’s a major letdown to learn from Welch (and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman) that the integration with the TV app indeed was a bug.

This news serves as yet another reminder that Apple and Netflix need to make up posthaste. Apple should pay Netflix whatever it takes to make the integration happen for its customers, myself included. Moreover, the news also is a reminder of how much work Apple should do in improving tvOS. As I said in the Six Colors Report Card, I’m still waiting for the company to give tvOS its iOS 7 moment. Which is to say, rethink and redesign it all to make it more than a static grid of app icons. There is so much potential for greater information density on screens as big as a television’s that Apple is seemingly reticent to tap. Of course, the grid of icons has its benefits too, but I’ve long maintained the tvOS interface is backwards. The stuff within the TV app—most notably the Watchlist—shouldn’t live in a silo. It should be akin to Google TV, easily discoverable and flanked by a bunch of content recommendations. By comparison, Google does this extremely well; I’m a happy subscriber to both YouTube Premium and YouTube TV and am really happy with the suggestions I get on what I should be watching. With the advent of Apple Intelligence a few months ago, there lies a huge opportunity for Apple to flex its AI muscle in this realm. In fact, spend a few minutes scrolling the TV app and you’ll notice there are a bunch of recommendations—in my case, most of them quite good. The problem is, again, this stuff is buried and siloed when it should be exposed and out in the open. Most people will claim it convenient, but the truth of the matter is it’s greater accessibility too. This is not an insignificant point for legions of people.

If only Eddy Cue would make the drive to Netflix headquarters with fat check in tow.

Amazon Updates Prime Video on Apple TV with New accessibility features, More

According to The Verge’s Emma Roth, Amazon this week released a substantial update to its Prime Video app on tvOS. The enhancements include higher resolution poster art, integration with the touchpad on the Apple TV’s Siri Remote, and most interestingly for me, support for accessibility features such as VoiceOver, Hover Text, and Bold Text.

The update runs on all Apple TV 4K models, as well as the decommissioned Apple TV HD.

After reading Roth’s story late yesterday, I installed the update on the Apple TV in the living room and played around in the user interface before watching the first few minutes of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. My first impressions are Amazon did a really nice job with this upgrade; the artwork looks spectacular on my brand-new 77” LG C3 OLED television and the trackpad gestures work swimmingly. The only bad thing I noticed was, best to my knowledge, the new Prime Video app seemingly doesn’t support Amazon’s X-Ray feature any longer. Maybe it does have it, but I missed it.

The Prime Video news came as a surprise to me, as I’ve been content with the version Amazon rolled out several months ago. Last July, I published a piece on the new app after going down to Culver City on a reporting trip and visiting Amazon MGM Studios for a small-ish media event around Prime Video. My reporting of the event featured in-person (!) interviews with Prime Video executives Raf Soltanovich and Kam Keshmiri. Both men talked with me about how the then-unreleased new Prime Video app had been built with accessibility top of mind, as accessibility is important to Amazon.

Jason Snell put it well when linking to Roth’s report: “There was a time when Prime Video was one of the worst major streamer apps on tvOS, but those days are over.”

Pondering The New Powerbeats Pro’s potential for hearing Accessibility

Apple-owned Beats released refreshed Powerbeats Pro this week. The earbuds, priced at $250 and described by Beats as “built for athletes,” are ideal for fitness and working out. Megastar athletes such as LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, and Lionel Messi have been seen wearing them. The new Powerbeats Pro feature an H2 chip, a heart rate sensor, and come with a case Beats says is a third smaller than the previous version.

Chance Miller at 9to5 Mac posted a review worth your eyeballs.

The Powerbeats Pro’s most distinctive attribute, however, is its ear hooks. Whereas something like the Beats Studio Buds+—which I snagged at a discount on Amazon during last year’s Prime Day—fit more into one’s ears, the Powerbeats uses an ear hook that fits outside the ear for security. As I wrote on Mastodon, it occurred to me the aforementioned ear hooks means Powerbeats Pro bear a strong resemblance to many prescription hearing aids available from audiologists. Stylistically speaking, the Powerbeats Pro, what with colors like “hyper purple” and “electric orange,” are far more pleasing compared to the drab, staid appearance of prescription hearing aids.

It got me thinking about the hearing health features in AirPods Pro 2. The hearing aid feature, released as part of iOS 18.1 last October, is currently exclusive to AirPods Pro; obviously subsequent models will support it, but what of Powerbeats Pro? I know nothing about the underlying technical requirements specific to AirPods Pro such that the hearing test/hearing aid is exclusive to it, but it’s with pondering whether Apple could—or, perhaps better put, arguably should—propagate it its other earbuds. After all, the new Powerbeats Pro are powered by the H2 chip. This is where the ear hooks have more relevance. To wit, not only do the hooks make the earbuds reminiscent of conventional hearing aids, they act as an accessibility aid unto itself. It’s entirely plausible a disabled person—or anyone else, for that matter—may choose Powerbeats Pro over its cousin in AirPods due to them being a literal better fit, despite the fact they may not be fitness-inclined. More pointedly, it’s also entirely plausible the ear hooks on Powerbeats Pro make it more accessible for someone to get them in and out of someone’s ears. What I’m saying is, there’s an argument to be made that someone might want AirPods Pro for the hearing aid feature—but can’t buy them because they don’t fit or, in a nod to sensory conditions, they’re uncomfortable to wear. The Powerbeats Pro seemingly would be an attractive alternative, given Beats is an Apple subsidiary and are virtually identical to AirPods Pro in terms of their general function.

If anything, expanding the hearing aid feature would give Apple another feather to put in its cap when it comes to transforming the over-the-counter hearing aid market and, by extension, shattering the stigmas associated with hearing loss and wearing hearing aids. This is exactly the kind of thing that aligns with the company’s purported purpose to use its technologies as agents of change in making the world a better place. It’s also not insignificant that AirPods, as well as Beats, are entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist in ways hearing aids decidedly aren’t. Expanding the hearing aid feature’s literal accessibility (in the access sense of the word) would serve only to reinforce that notion.

Be My Eyes Touts ‘Significant New Capabilities’ in Winter 2025 App Update

Be My Eyes has announced its Winter 2025 update. In a blog post published last week, the San Francisco-based company said the upgrades bring with it “performance enhancements and flexible data choices for users.” The announcement is also notable in its timing; it coincides with the launch of the original app a decade ago, in 2015.

On the user experience side, Be My Eyes has added support for video calls in full 1080p resolution by default. The higher resolution, the company said, will enable volunteers and service agents to view “clearer images and finer details when zooming-in” as they ready to provide descriptions the user. Furthermore, Be My Eyes responded to a popular request by adding the ability for Be My AI to read descriptive texts aloud, even when a screen reader is inactive on the device. According to Be My Eyes, the functionality “[makes] for a more elegant and easy way to access descriptions without the need for additional software or settings.” Lastly, Be My Eyes has added the ability to save and share images, which includes alt-text, as well as support for the Shortcuts app on iOS.

As to data management, Be My Eyes has instituted a policy whereby images are deleted after 30 days. Users of course have discretion over which images they want to keep, but the default action is to purge images after a month’s time. In addition, the company notes users have the ability to opt-out of having their data used to train AI models if desired. The toggle is available in an “updated and simplified” menu in Settings.

For Jatin Nayyar, HireVue Has Lived Up to Its Promise To Provide ‘More Equitable Opportunities’ to disabled workers

When I connected late last year with Jatin Nayyar over email for a brief interview, the 22-year-old from Marlboro, New Jersey and recent George Washington University graduate explained to me he wanted to work at employment technology company HireVue because he felt strongly he “[deeply aligns] with its mission to harness technology to unlock human potential and provide more equitable opportunities.”

On its website, HireVue boasts it puts the ‘human’ back into Human Resources by “marking a new era in hiring that offers unparalleled insight into skills and potential, so we can put the human back in human resources.” For the unfamiliar, HireVue was a repeat subject of coverage at my recently-shuttered Forbes column. In October 2023, I sat down with company executives Anthony Reynolds and Patrick Morrissey. Reynolds is HireVue’s CEO while Morrissey serves as the company’s chief customer officer.

“As someone with Tourette Syndrome, I’ve always been passionate about promoting inclusivity and leveraging diverse perspectives to improve outcomes,” Nayyar said. “HireVue’s commitment to using AI to reduce bias and create fairer hiring practices resonates with my personal belief that intelligence and potential come in many forms and that everyone deserves a chance to shine, regardless of how they express themselves. I’m excited to contribute to a company that values and elevates human potential.”

According to Nayyar, who has Tourettes Syndrome, HireVue provided him with several accommodations during the hiring process. He went through “an array of their solutions,” one being live and on-demand video interviewing. Tourettes, he explained, is exacerbated by stress; its symptoms can manifest “quite prominently” during job interviews. Nayyar was able to disclose his tics beforehand, on his terms, without meeting the interviewer. It was something, he told me, he appreciated very much. It made him comfortable.

“[HireVue] gave me a chance to share my voice and show what I can bring to the table,” Nayyar said.

Nayyar called the support he’s received from co-workers as “great.” Every one of them he’s been in contact with has been extremely empathetic and helpful to his needs, with Nayyar noting he considers it mentorship. While Nayyar acknowledged being the youngest member of his team—not to mention being in a wholly new industry—was difficult at first, he’s nonetheless very proud to have been able to “make strides” with the steadfast love and support from his colleagues.

Looking towards the future, Nayyar hopes to continue being an advocate for mental health awareness and disability inclusion. He also looks forward to continue as a competitive boxer and hopes to get back into the sports industry at some point down the proverbial line.

Yours Truly Is Featured In the 2024 Six Colors Apple Report Card, Talking Accessibility

Jason Snell at Six Colors posted his annual Apple Report Card earlier this week. It’s a big deal because not only have I written for him once, but I’ve been participating as a years-long panelist tasked with grading Apple in the annual Apple Report Card. This year’s edition is a milestone, as it’s the series’ 10th anniversary, and I’m honored to have been part of it for much of its existence. For the uninitiated, Snell describes the Report Card as a way in which to “get a broad sense of sentiment—the ‘vibe in the room’—regarding the past year” of Apple from what he called a “hand-selected group” of people who follow the company extremely closely. There’s even a nerdy but cool data visualization of the results from this year’s survey.

Of course, my contribution to the Report Card is Apple’s performance on accessibility. What follows are my verbatim responses on the company’s progress spanning a slew of categories.

On the Mac. “I feel like the Mac is firing on all cylinders right now, thanks in large part to Apple silicon. While my daily driver machine is a 2019 Retina 4K iMac on Intel—I do have an M2 MacBook Air as well—the value proposition is off the charts, seeing it still going strong nearly 6 years after I bought it.”

On the iPhone. “The iPhone impresses every year in my eyes. I upgrade it every year not merely for journalism’s sake but because it’s my most important and oft-used computer.”

On the iPad. “I was gifted a 13″ M4 iPad Pro (with Magic Keyboard) for my birthday in September. The hardware, most especially the OLED display, is stunning. As to software, although iPadOS does exactly what I need it to do, there’s no question the pace of improvement needs to pick up.”

On Wearables. “Apple Watch, AirPods, and Vision Pro all are winners in general. The new Apple Watch’s bigger screen in a lightweight package is lovely, especially after wearing an Ultra for 2 years solely for its big screen. Vision Pro is the most accessible content consumption device I’ve ever used, but it is heavy, and the app story for streaming TV and movies feels thin other than TV+ and Disney+.”

On Home. “As an Apple user, I love the idea of HomeKit. The smart home makes tasks like turning lights on and off more accessible. What frustrates me, however, is its unreliability. I see ‘No Response’ statuses way more often than I’d like, and it sullies the overall experience.”

On Apple TV. “The Apple TV box is laughably over-engineered for what it mainly does: stream content. I appreciate the horsepower, to be sure, but the point stands. Software-wise, I’m still holding my breath for tvOS to have its iOS 7 moment. The grid of icons UI is good in some ways, but on a screen as large as a television’s, there is a lot of untapped potential. Widgets, etc.”

On Services. “I wish Apple would revisit the Apple TV branding to make it clearer. There’s the box and the streaming service, but I’d bet most people associate ‘Apple TV’ with TV+ instead of the box. The TV app adds more complexity and confusion in terms of naming.”

On World Impact. “From an accessibility standpoint, the AirPods Pro hearing aid feature has to exemplify Apple’s ethos of making the world a better place. It isn’t perfect, but the salient point is it’s tremendously significant the functionality exists at all. And it doesn’t take into account the continued work Apple did in 2024 to make its devices more accessible to the disability community. As I always say, Apple deserves more laudation in this realm than ‘gee whiz.’”

How Genomics Uses DNA And Tech To Make Healthcare Accessible To All

“[We] are united by a single vision: help people live longer, healthier lives, through the power of genomics.”

That’s what Genomics co-founder and CEO Sir Peter Donnelly told me about his company in a recent interview. He further described Genomics as a company, driven by science, which “uses large-scale genetic information to develop innovative precision healthcare tools and to bring new understanding to drug discovery for partners across the healthcare, insurance, employer, and life sciences industries.” The company, founded in 2014 with offices in Oxford, Cambridge, London, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, collaborates with what Sir Donnelly characterized as “some of the world’s leading organizations” in an effort to help them “predict, prevent, treat, and cure disease using our proprietary algorithms and databases.” The work Genomics does, he added, goes a long way towards “reducing the human and financial cost of critical diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.”

“We [at Genomics] believe genomics should be at the heart of every healthcare service around the world,” Sir Donnelly said of his company’s raison d'être. “[We believe] it will be the key to personalized healthcare of the future. We are a rapidly growing and expanding organization.”

Sir Donnelly expounded on these sentiments, telling me he believes the potential impact of Genomics’ science and technology to be profound and “enormous.” A goal of his was to share his company’s innovations with partners who would be willing to join Genomics on its mission to “help people live longer healthier lives, as soon as possible.” Genomics, Sir Donnelly said, works with companies across industries such as healthcare and insurers in providing better care. Notably, Genomics works with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

“We’re helping drive new possibilities in health, healthcare, and drug discovery, transforming people’s health and lives with the power of genomic prediction,” Sir Donnelly said. “Our mission is to help everyone make smart, proactive decisions to live healthier lives—making individuals co-pilots instead of passengers on their individual health journey.”

This column has seen a fair amount of coverage over time at the intersection of disability, technology, and healthcare. The reason for this is obvious and simple: more than any other group, disabled people oftentimes are in need of the most healthcare to sustain themselves. As I have written about the modern miracle known as the internet being the basis for obtaining medication more accessibly through conduits such as Amazon Pharmacy, Sir Donnelly and Genomics are coming at accessibility at another angle by, as he told me in citing one example, working in clinical trials with the NHS to help people “match the right people to the right treatment, for better patient outcomes.” Moreover, Sir Donnelly mentioned Genomics’ Insights test. He described it as providing “genetic risk testing as a secure, end-to-end solution based on a simple saliva sample collection that can be taken at home” which tests for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, breast or prostate cancer, and more. Based on the tester’s risk profile, he said, the person is given “actionable information about what to discuss with their doctor and give them helpful advice on setting diet, exercise, and other lifestyle goals.” Especially to a disabled person, maybe someone with certain cognitive disabilities, this information is worth its weight in gold in helping them know what they need to discuss with their doctor(s). Likewise, that the Insights test uses one’s smartphone means, for instance, results can be read using the system’s accessibility software.

“Because our genetic risk scores combine information from millions of places in our DNA, they are largely uncorrelated with a family history of disease and with most clinical risk factors. Over 70% of people are at high risk for at least one of the conditions we assess,” Sir Donnelly said. “In most cases, they will have no idea about this. Our test gives someone a chance to learn their particular risks, and for them and their healthcare professionals to take action to prevent that disease well before any symptoms become apparent.”

When asked about feedback from Genomics’ users, Sir Donnelly told me the company has been “lucky” to have received “great accolades” from partners and individuals. He pointed to a survey of MassMutual policyholders receiving the aforementioned Insights test, saying 76% found the information gleaned from the test valuable while 61% reported formulating an “improved impression” of their insurance company.

As to the future, Sir Donnelly believes the next 5–10 years will prove prosperous for genomics, helping it become the “gold-standard across the insurance, life sciences, and health services industries.” His company, he believes, will stand “at the forefront” of the revolution.

“By giving individuals much more precise information about the particular health risks they face, they can take the right actions, at the right time, to help prevent disease entirely, or to catch ill health early—when outcomes are much better,” Sir Donnelly said. “We find people are frequently under the impression that they know what diseases they are at risk of, based on hereditary factors. Through advanced genomics and PRS technology, we can know so much more about an individual’s DNA, and accurately make predictions about the potential future of their health. This puts patients in the driver’s seat of their health journey.”

How One Influencer Uses Pilates, Tech, And Empathy To ‘Empower Everyone’

Carrie Minter Ebers is behind the Carrie's Pilates business.

Carrie Minter Ebers describes herself on her Instagram as a “glamour girl extraordinaire.” Ebers, who boasts over 400,000 followers on said Instagram, described herself in a recent interview with me as a model, Pilates instructor, and entrepreneur. In 2013, she founded Carrie’s Pilates. On its website, it states it believes Pilates should be “fun, challenging, and empowering for everyone.” Ebers’ business has locations in California, Texas, and Canada. She said the company’s aim is to “empower individuals of all shapes and sizes to achieve their fitness goals and feel great about themselves both physically and mentally.”

In other words, Pilates ought to be accessible to everyone.

Ebers explained Pilates is cool because it provides what she called a “comprehensive approach” to fitness by enhancing strength, flexibility, and mental clarity. In a nod to accessibility, she added Pilates’ flexibility allows anybody, regardless of their background or ability level, to pick it up. She reiterated the inclusivity focus of her business, saying “our goal is to empower individuals to achieve their fitness aspirations and feel great about themselves.” Moreover, Ebers was candid in sharing with me getting into fitness and wellness vis-a-vis Pilates “changed my life” as someone who has struggled with anxiety, depression, and addiction.

Accessibility indeed holds a special place in Ebers’ heart. She has a sibling who is disabled, so she told me disability inclusion is “very important” to her. As a show of her staunch support of the disability community, Ebers serves on the board of directors of Camp Summit. Camp Summit is a residential camp intended for people with disabilities. According to its website, Camp Summit opened its first camp in June 2010 in the Marin Headlands, north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge, and touts offering campers “stimulating and challenging activities” led by devoted staff members who are “uniquely qualified to nuture such a community located in beautiful, picturesque settings.”

“There isn’t a lot of support for adults with special needs,” Ebers said in lamenting the lack of empathy for disabled adults. “They can only go to school for so long, and many are not functional enough to have a job.”

When asked about how technology plays a role in her work, Ebers told me it’s “integral” to the day-to-day operations of her business. Technology also is central to the design and development of the company’s proprietary Transformer 2.0 machine, not to mention its mobile-friendly website and smartphone app. Both enable people to easily book classes, check schedules, and purchase sessions. These pieces of technology, along with the proliferation of social media and other tools, help Ebers and team “support our studio owners and enhance the client experience and support our mission to make fitness accessible.”

As to feedback, Ebers called the reception to Carrie’s Pilates “overwhelmingly positive” and said the experiences has a “cult-like following” amongst clients. She said clients are appreciative of the company’s high-energy trainers and the “unique combination” of high-intensity interval training, strength training, cardio, and Pilates. People have reported “significant improvements” to their mental and physical health, Ebers told me, and noted the company’s retail expansion is reflective of “the growing demand and satisfaction with our programs.”

Looking towards the future, Ebers said business-wise, the company hopes to expand further; the goal is to grow to more than 50 studios within the next 2 to 3 years. She added Carrie’s Pilates is committed to “continuous innovation in our workout programs and equipment to better serve our clients’ evolving needs.” As to her personal life, Ebers said she intends to continue her advocacy on both the mental health and disability awareness fronts. She’s also slated to continue working with Camp Summit, and hopes to launch a nonprofit organization which expands housing opportunities for disabled adults. It will not only give people with disabilities increased agency and autonomy in their own lives, but will provide much-needed respite for caretakers. This is key, Ebers told me, especially for aging adults who, frankly, need breaks.

The 2023 Apple report card

Since 2015, Jason Snell of Six Colors has commissioned a hand-selected group of Apple watchers, including yours truly, to grade the company’s performance across a slew of categories in the last year. I added commentary in software reliability, Apple TV, of course, accessibility.