Apple honors the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act with artists, activists, more

Apple ADA Interviewees
Apple ADA Interviewees (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • The ADA has its 30th anniversary.
  • Apple is celebrating by sharing the thoughts of artists, activists, and more.
  • An in-depth Newsroom post looks into how the law has changed and how tech can help.

Apple has published a lengthy Newsroom piece that honors the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) alongside artists, activists, and more. Those involved discuss the ADA, how it has changed over the years, and how technology has a place in society.

Stories include that of Matthew Whitaker, a jazz musician who can create music using VoiceOver. Whitaker points out that while technology can't solve every problem blind people face, it does help out daily.

Technology does not solve every obstacle one can encounter as a blind person, but having access to the equipment and applications I need in daily living, music creation, and being a student is the right of every American with a disability.

Disability rights lawyer, speaker, and author Haben Girma also speaks about a case that has helped prevent companies from making it more difficult for people to access things like ebooks and documents. All thanks to the ADA.

I represented the National Federation of the Blind in a lawsuit against a company that designed a library where blind readers were blocked from reading many of the ebooks and documents. The case established legal precedent as the first court decision in the Second Circuit, and the second in the country, holding the ADA's promise of equality extends to virtual places. Since then we've had multiple cases upholding the ADA's presence online.

The stories continue with actor Tatiana Lee, joined by Dean Hudson, accessibility technical evangelist at Apple as well. It's a great look at how technology can help people to live a full life and Apple continues to be at the forefront of that. Check the full text out – it's well worth the time.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.