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Calling All Blind and Low Vision Users!
Exciting news! I’ve reached out to Apple Accessibility, and they’re on board to collaborate with us. They’ve asked me to put together a team so we can work directly with their team and engineers.
Are you passionate about improving accessibility features for blind and low vision users? Do you use VoiceOver, Zoom, or other low vision features on your devices? We need your help!
We’re looking for individuals who are interested in providing feedback and testing new features from our point of view. Your input will be invaluable in making technology more accessible for everyone.
If you’re interested in participating, please fill out the form below:
https://forms.microsoft.com/r/eRQAsmMb7C
Let’s make a difference together!
Feel free to share this post.
Best,
Matthew Whitaker
Alright everyone. I just checked the results so far, and we have 50 responces. I'm going to close it at 3:30 EST. I will go through the responces with a few people, then get in contact with my contact at Apple, then will be contacting everyone that submitted. Stay tuned. Thanks to everyone who submitted. Really means a lot.
Hi everyone,
First of all, I want to thank you for your interest and support in this exciting project! I’ve been on the road a lot lately, traveling and performing shows, but I wanted to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about any of you.
I’m currently working on scheduling a date to meet with my contact at Apple, and once I have that confirmed, I’ll reach out to everyone who submitted the form. I really appreciate your patience, and I can’t wait for us to get started on improving accessibility together. Also, IOS 18 is coming out soon. What features are you looking forward too?
Stay tuned, and thanks again for your commitment to making technology better for blind and low vision users!
Best,
Matthew Whitaker
@Matthew2468 @alexhall It's ironic that they use a Microsoft form when they are clearly apple accessibility. Maybe I'm wrong
@benblatch @alexhall I made the form using MS Forms.
@Matthew2468 @alexhall Oh, my bad. Disregard my post then. My apologies.
@Matthew2468 @alexhall Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
@benblatch @Matthew2468 They're not with the company, it seems, just a group of users hoping to consolidate feedback and start discussions. Besides, there aren't many form creation tools out there that are accessible.
@Matthew2468 Uh, why only for mac? Sad
@McOi good question... I wanna focus on Mac for now...
@McOi I’ll try to include time where we discuss IOS and iPad OS, but the focus will be on Mac OS. Still though, you should sign up. I wanna make sure everyone has a chance to let their voice be heard.
@Matthew2468 I can if you want me to lie and claim I use a mac
@Matthew2468 @McOi I would sign up as soon as it would be for Ipad or IOS. I have 0, and I mean 0 experience with Mac's, even though if I could lend one but I never had the pation to get into them again.
May I ask though how it came to this all. I just saw your post with the forms link, but whats the background?
@jonathan859 @McOi Hi. I reached out to my contact I have there and I explained some areas I thought that could be improved overall with Voiceover on the Mac. I also mentioned other ideas I had from other people. He said to put a team together so he can be in contact with us. I created the form to gather interest. I will share everyone's responces to the form with him and will be in contact with everyone after he has a chance to review them.
@Matthew2468 @jonathan859 Yeah nice but it's a mac form so I will not sign it period. You guys good luck though
@Matthew2468 Excellent! Filling this out!
@Matthew2468 This appear to only be for Mac OS
@davetaylor2112 I will try to make sure to include time where we talk about IOS and iPad OS, with the team, so I would still sign up.
@Matthew2468 Thing is, my answers for IOS would be entirely different than for Mac OS. Istopped being able to use Mac OS about 10 years ago because of games I wanted to play, whereas IOS is still my go to. You're probably best having this as just a Mac OS group and saying so, that or have questions for both and don't make them compulsary. If it's a Mac group that finds time for IOS, then it's not really going to be something Icould help with, but good luck with it anyway.
@Matthew2468 Signed up for this and can't wait to get started. If we could get them to look at Logic on macOS as well that would be great!!!
@ZBennoui Yes I did mention that to the person I was in contact with. We shouldn’t have to pay extra to download scrips that make things more accessible.
@Matthew2468 This. Logic on iPad proves they know how to do accessibility, it's time the Mac getts that commitment as well. Take one look at Ableton to see how it's done.
@ZBennoui Exactly. And Reaper. Both those projects were driven by feedback from us. They gotta stop being so private about everything, if you know what I mean.
@Matthew2468 1000 percent. So happy this is being put together. I just wanna make sure, do you have a way of seeing how many signed up? Just to be sure I got in there.
@ZBennoui Yes I can check the responses since they update in real time. I also have it set so I get an email when someone submits.
@Matthew2468 I just submitted, and I had to think really hard and be honest with this question: "What aspects of VoiceOver or Zoom improve your user experience?" lol
@chikim @Matthew2468 I had a similar thought. :)
@chikim @Matthew2468 That certainly was a difficult question to answer without being snarky...
@FreakyFwoof @chikim @Matthew2468 Question: what does this bring to the table that the preceding 19 years of data they already have from users worldwide hasn't already shown?
@Scott @chikim @Matthew2468 Probably bugger all.
@FreakyFwoof @chikim @Matthew2468 Sweet. BRB, scrambling to get signed up then.
@Scott @chikim @Matthew2468 I can't say I've ever personally felt listened to when submitting feedback to a corporation this size, but maybe, just maybe one day AI pigs will fly and I'll get an LLM-based response about
'Your text is important to us. You are at position: 93115771, in the queue.'
One lives in hope.
@FreakyFwoof @chikim @Matthew2468 Were you in a group though? I bet you weren't. A group can take strategic action like disconnecting the plumbing and blocking the exit of Tim Cook's favourite cubical, trapping him in with his post-lunch dump until he promises to improve QC. Or failing that, they could get on Zoom and moan a bit. Just imagine what that could achieve.
@FreakyFwoof @Matthew2468 My response for that question was, TBH, I use Mac for MacOS, not for VO. lol
@chikim @Matthew2468 I struggled most with that question as well. It was much easier to politely slam the web experience with VoiceOver which is nothing short of atrocious.
@chikim @Matthew2468 Yeah I submitted mine too. I do like the VoiceOver sounds.
@Matthew2468 I'm already losing my mind at the form being hosted by Microsoft. Anyway, that happened...
@FreakyFwoof I made the form. There are not so many accessible form creator tools out there, and this is the one I chose to create the form on.
@Matthew2468 The form itself was fine, it just amused me that they don't have their own tools for this kind of thing.
@FreakyFwoof totally agree
Can Ijust have a chuckle about the fact that the APple Feedback thing is a Microsoft form? No? Good. hah! :)
@Matthew2468 The page shows that it's only for Mac users at the present time. And, is this worldwide or just US? Thanks!
@technolass Worldwide
@Matthew2468 I find it ironic that you're using a form from Microsoft for an Apple-related message and call for action. Nevertheless, I'm on board! lol
@ItsJustGenoJ I created the form using MS forms... not too many accessible form creator tools out there.
@Yvromaco @Matthew2468 Oh, I saw that, but I don't have a Mac. They annoy me. Only iPhone and watch.
@Yvromaco@thecanadian.social@mcourcel @Matthew2468 yeah, that's probably enough of Steve Job's Kool aid
@Matthew2468 wow! Great news!
@Matthew2468 Oh no, it's Mac OS only?.. That's a pity.
@menelion The main focus will be on Mac OS, but I'll make sure we have space to mention IOS and iPad OS.
@Matthew2468 Maybe try to convince them to have another team and/or another session, because the most used pair in the blind community is Windows and iOS don't trust me on word, search for WebAim survey results.
@menelion @Matthew2468 Nitpicking, but webaim is extremely US centric, Android is probably even more popular than that, but the kind of people who use it aren't the kind of people who can fill out Webaim, usually due to language differences.
@miki @Matthew2468 I know, but we're talking Apple here. iOS is way, way more popular than Mac, although I do acknowledge Mac needs much love.
@Matthew2468 can't wait for this to come to frewition. Keep it up man!