“[We] blind folks are no exception. Because Apple has done a spectacular job at integrating accessibility in all of their products in an effort to include the blind and other disabled individuals, [we] blind people can enjoy being a part of these hot trends and feel cool like our sighted peers,” Waldorf PC reports. “This enables us to have something to relate to when it comes to conversing with our sighted counterparts, which to me is huge because I do not enjoy the feeling that I’m so isolated and can only relate to a certain subculture. Thanks so much to Apple; we are not left out in the cold, being forced to wait a long period of time to have some cool gadgets in our hands long after the coolness has died out. And thanks so much to Apple caring enough about our inclusion; I’m able to provide a first person iPad review from a blindness perspective.”
“The Apple iPad is one hundred percent accessible straight out of the box… Blind individuals can glide a finger over the screen, and as they glide their fingers, the options will be spoken aloud. When the users hear an option that they want to select, they can tap their fingers on that option twice, and the option will then be selected. There is no barrier to us blind folks using the Apple iPad’s touch screen,” Waldorf PC reports. “Of course, with me being totally blind, I’m going to give a lot of attention to detail in [how a product feels], as the sense of touch is very important to me. And if things feel nice, then I’m more inclined to pay better attention and be more interested. The iPad feels sleek, smooth, and thin, and I love that a lot.
Waldorf PC reports, “Apple has really changed the lives of many blind individuals by integrating accessibility in all things. I strongly feel that the rest of the electronic industry needs to follow in their footsteps, so [we] blind individuals can continue to enjoy equal usability at an equal price. Because Apple has taken this major step in including us, I’m able to sit and chill out with all of my sighted peers, use my iPad right along with them, and join other blind techs in providing information to our fellow blind peers about the device. Best of all, I did not have to spend hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, to make the device accessible in order for me to use it.”
Full review here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brandon” for the heads up.]
i would thin deaf community would benefit more
Yet another reason why I love Apple – accessibility isn’t an afterthought when they design their products.
If that isn’t a great review, I don’t know what is. Bless him and apple.
Wow, that is amazing. Did not know that…
Love this. But I am looking forward to much better speech controls in the future. It’s already been too long.
MDN thank you for sharing this.
Very cool Apple!
All other tech companies always have, and always will, follow in Apple’s foot steps.
My brother in-law is deaf. He and his deaf friends/colleagues use video chat a TON. You might think they’d be big into instant messaging, but not really. iChat and Skype is where it is at for them.
When iPhones and iPads have front facing video cameras, they will be THE device to have for the deaf community.
It is very cool that Apple has such great usability built into iPad version 1 for the blind though!
…”i would thin deaf community would benefit more”
This implies that the blind community somehow doesn’t completely benefit from the device. I have a feeling that the community would be offended by such a statement. The review clearly states that the device is remarkable because it can be fully used out of the box, and has full accessibility support. Obviously, to the blind, iPhoto would be irrelevant, just as iTunes would be to the deaf. However, the features that ARE relevant are (apparently) fully accessible.
Regardless, I can’t see why certain group of handicapped persons would benefit more than certain other, if the accessibility support is full and complete for all the features relevant to the specific kind of disability?
While I applaud Apple, I still think they could have done better than the shitty voice they use, compared to the ones from Cepstral, AT&T;, Nuance, Acapela, Loquendo, and CereProc, to name a few!
Too bad there`s a whole demographic of “blind” people that`ll never give this device a chance.. namely PC users.
*no offence to any MDN blind readers intended.
@Predrag “This implies that the blind community somehow doesn’t completely benefit from the device. I have a feeling that the community would be offended by such a statement.”
Give it a rest- the guy was being complimentary- I’m am SO sick of this fuckin political correctness shit. It’s the liberal ass, granola bar eating, tree hugging rhetoric that’s ripping this country to shreds. Just stop with the nonsense. Deaf people .. Oh- I mean ‘hearing impaired’ oh … I mean hearing ‘challenged’ can benefit from this device as well as the Stevie Wonder people. This is positive. Leave it as such.
Don’t worry chew. They didn’t see what you wrote.
@Big Al
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well played LOL
iLuvMymacs:
It is clear that you fall into the category of majority white Americans (without any specific disability or feature that would make you somehow at a disadvantage to the others). Otherwise, you’d very quickly understand how easy it is to truly offend others. I used to do it a lot (unwittingly), when I was a part of the monolithic majority group.
The guy may have meant well, but said it in a way that could easily offend. Try to tune in a bit more to people who are just a bit different than yourself.
Ok, ipad is good. But blinding person uses it? That’s bulkshit. It is totally visualizing device. Macdailynews, what do you think? Put this article down please!
” I used to do it a lot (unwittingly), when I was a part of the monolithic majority group.”
You mean you’re not white anymore?
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@ chew
Well, yeah… Because PC users don’t buy iPods or iPhones… Oh wait…
@Predrag 100% with you! Very Well Said!
A couple of weeks ago, I heard a Stevie Wonder interwiew were he ranted and raved about how much he loves his iPhone. It goes to show how much Apple pays attention to details. It’s that attention that sets Apple apart from the competition and it’s why I am a big fan of the company.
…and the WOW continues!
Here’s a rock solid analogy for what the iPad is:
It’s the .MP3 of computers.
[Yous guys]:
How’s that, you say, Regis?
[BTAYLOR]:
That’s…btaylor, not Reg…nevermind…
We’ll you see kids, the mp3 was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for most listeners-but not for audiophiles, though.
[Yous guys]:
Regis, what’s a pedo…I mean, audiophile?
[BTAYLOR]:
Well kids, a pedo…..an…..Audiophile is obsessive dork nerd what claims they can hear frequencies in musical recordings the rest of us normal people can’t hear……and buys $500 monster cables to prove it!
[Yous guys]:
Wow Regis….[BTAYLOR]:
STOP IT WITH THE DAMN REGIS! IT’s BTAYLOR!!! B-TAYLOR!!!!……CHRIST!!!………………………………….anyway, the gist of the analogy is this:
Before the iPad, people…normal people…we’re forced to buy superfast overpriced computers who’s features and processing power were woefully underused, when all they really needed was a heavy, awkward, glossy, over-hyped tablet device for e-mail, web browsing, neglecting their kids while playing Peggle, tweeting that they’re tweeting, and annoying friends with Facebook requests.
[Yous guys]:
Surely you have some sort of ivy league degree…
[BTAYLOR]:
Yep! That’s why my name’s in CAPS and yous guy’s aint!
…….and don’t call me Shirley.
@iluvmymacs
Actually, you’re what’s wrong with this country; shooting off your mouth in some hysterical rant!
Stereotypical labels and name-calling aside, your response to Predrag shows how tightly you’re wound; like you’re about to snap.
Regardless of what Fred said, I thought Predrag’s response was delivered with an even, empathic tone. Perhaps in Fred’s haste to be first post, he didn’t take the time to be as thoughtful as Predrag.
I seriously doubt Fred would be offended by anything Predrag said.
You, on the other hand, are losing credibilty because you haven’t learned to edit youself.
Chill.
@archurban
what? Are you blind, deaf, and dumb?
Or just stupid?
Why would a blind man say he thoroughly enjoys his iPad if he
weren’t telling the truth?
I have witnessed this kind of epihany before, many times over working with the Saguaro Foundation in Yuma Arizona. The SF provides opportunities for the handicapped to learn a trade using Apple’s Macintosh, which has, since day one been an equal opportunity provider for anyone wanting to enjoy the computer experience.
If you ever lose one of your senses, or a limb or two, you will realize Apple has put just as much thought into the handicapped computer experience as they have for the gifted.