Apple’s accessibility videos shine light on how its tools change lives

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Screen Shot 2017-05-17 at 12.04.29
Apple's "Designed for" videos focus on accessibility.
Photo: Apple

In keeping with its trend of highlighting regular users in its ads, Apple has debuted a new series of videos on its YouTube channel, showing how Apple’s Accessibility features can help users in their everyday lives.

The seven “Designed for” videos, each running under two minutes, highlight stories like a visually-impaired DJ who uses Apple’s award-winning VoiceOver feature, or a sport-playing teenager unable to use her natural voice, but able to communicate using the TouchChat app on her iPad.

Check them out below.

Keep an eye on accessibility

Under Tim Cook’s watch, Apple has pushed to highlight the importance of devices and tools aimed at supporting disabled users. In a 2013 speech, Cook said that disabled users can be “frequently left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others.”

Apple has taken steps to help change that, such as last year opening a new section of its online store where shoppers can find a range of accessibility gadgets. These are split up into vision, physical and motor skills, and learning and literacy categories, and feature products for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

The choice to highlight some of the resulting stories is a great move for Apple. We’re also continuing to dig the strategy of creating videos primarily for online, rather than TV, audiences, which allows Apple to tell stories that may be so easy to tell in the short space of a television commercial.

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