Technology

Janet Ingber

Editor’s Note:
As someone who is blind, I’ve been a longtime fan of Apple’s SE—now known as the “E” line—of iPhones. I personally find these models strike an ideal balance by delivering the power needed to support the latest iOS features, while omitting many of the high-end elements that tend to focus on visual use, especially the camera. Since I don’t rely heavily on the camera, I can skip those premium extras and still enjoy a fast, capable device—with better battery life and a significantly lower price.

Janet Ingber

This fall, Apple released its new operating system for the Mac. Staying true to its California-inspired naming convention, the system is called macOS 15.0, Sequoia. Since then, two updates have been released, with the latest version being macOS 15.2. An M1 chip or higher is required to utilize the new Apple AI features. For this article, an M1 Mac running macOS 15.2 Sequoia was used.

Here are some of the new features:

Janet Ingber

This fall, Apple released its latest operating system for the Apple Watch. Among its many features, WatchOS 11 introduces new health options, the ability to play content through the Watch speakers, and support for multiple VoiceOver voices. WatchOS 11 is compatible with Apple Watch Series 6 and newer. For this article, I tested WatchOS 11 on an Apple Watch Series 10.

Members of AFB’s Public Policy team joined leaders in the technology and workforce space to share how AI could affect workers with disabilities at the first AI Skilling Fair held by the AI Workforce and Skills Roundtable and House Taskforce on AI. AFB’s Senior Advisor of Public Policy & Research, Sarah Malaier, spoke during the briefing and shared her thoughts after the event.

Researchers at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Public Policy and Research Institute just released results from the second Barriers to Digital Inclusion study, which show how often commercial websites and apps continue to exclude blind and low-vision customers.

We at AFB are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published its final rule on website and mobile application accessibility this week. This rule is the culmination of decades of advocacy and rulemaking and marks a significant step in ensuring that the digital environment is fully accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, or are deafblind.

Low vision awareness is about recognizing the diversity of vision we might find in our community or workplace. Blindness and low vision are not visual conditions that are either on or off. Low vision affects people in different ways, so it might be that someone with low vision has less peripheral vision, like looking down a cardboard tube, which can be caused by glaucoma, or it might be a very soft focus in the center of the visual field that can't be corrected.

On September 18, 2023, Apple released iOS 17 for iPhone and iPad. This new operating system has many changes for some very popular apps and features. This post will cover some of the major changes.

On this 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we at AFB are thinking of all the ways that technology plays in role in meeting the expectations of this valuable and groundbreaking civil rights legislation. Thanks to the ADA, we have come to expect equality and access in every part of public life. Truly, people who are blind or have low vision have greater access to jobs, businesses, life in the community, and government services because the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.