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
#Accessibility #BlindUsers #LowVision #VoiceOver #Zoom #AppleAccessibility #TechForAll #Inclusion #AccessibilityMatters #blind #lowvision
Comments
Link doesn't exist
When I click on the link, it says it doesn't exist
here's the link
Sending the link again. Let me know if this works.
https://forms.microsoft.com/r/eRQAsmMb7C
More context needed
How exactly did you do this? What exactly did they say? Could we have the email they sent you? Does this only apply for mac or is it all apple devices? Is this just blindness or other disabilities as well? Lots of questions.
Link doesn't work for me neither
Link doesn't work for me neither. received an error page.
answering a few questions
Hi. Good questions... regarding who's this form for, this is Primarily focusing on Mac, but once we get more things underway we can branch out a little bit, but I wanna focus on Mac OS for now. regarding your other questions, I prefer not to discuss on here on a public form like this. However, if you must know, feel free to get in contact with me privately. I don't want any bad vibes on here.
Link not working. Additional questions
I'm sorry, but it keeps saying that the link doesn't exist.
Is this an opportunity open to everyone, or only individuals from the United States, for example? If you get the link working, there is a group on Facebook about accessibility for the iPhone and iPad, so you might want to post it there as well. Assuming, of course, that you haven't already done so.
I think you're a member of the group, but in case you're not, here is the link.
https://www.facebook.com/share/qhyg5SxhUdYDVwKD/?mibextid=K35XfP
the form doesn't seem to be working propperly
Wen I press submit, it tells me one question is unanswered, the one where you have to rate your user experience from 1 to 5 via press on the corisponding checkbox... I press on the checkbox, I hear it as, checked, but pressing submit... Keeps bringing up the, one question needs to be answered and again, anyone else having this problem?
Regarding the link, hmmm…
Regarding the link, hmmm... ok will see what I can do. This is open to everyone, no matter where you are from. Yes, good idea about that facebook group, I'll make a post there too.
not having issues on my end
everything seems to be fine on my end. I tested this on all my devices. submitting things is working fine as well.
If you’re having issues, selecting the stars
I used screen recognition, and it worked
I don't have a Mac
The only device I have is an iPhone, so, yeah. I don't have an iPad, or a Mac. Anyway, best of luck, and if you're able to update us regarding the progress, I'm going to be following this thread for additional details or further opportunities, and will help out wherever I can. I have been hearing that accessibility on the map could be better. Otherwise, I was wondering why you weren't focused on the iPhone or the iPad, since that's what most individuals seem to have access to, but if this is the angle that you're coming from, then, yeah, it makes sense for sure.
thanks for the
Thank you for the using OCR for the stars, I managed to submit the form.
I don't have a mac either.
But honestly this is an amazing step if they listen.
I'll wait to see if we get an IOS version of this and then I will be signing up.
Just signed up!
I've always wanted to do something. like this. I hope this will allow Voiceover on the mac to get better. I will also be locked to this thread for updates.
updates
For those who got past the rating, glad OCR works out for that. Sorry I wasn't aware of this. Also, shout out to my guy Levi. what's good bro? He's a great composer and orchestrator.
Anyway, I would say for those who don't have a Mac, you can still sign up. I'll make sure IOS and iPad OS will get included in discussions even though the main focus will be on Mac OS.
Confused
Could you please clarify this topic further? It seems like the discussion group being referenced isn’t an official Apple discussion board. Instead, it appears to be a place where users can share and discuss various Mac wishes and features they’d like to see. I assume that the information gathered here will be passed on to the Apple Accessibility Team, rather than being a direct communication channel with them. Is that correct? Additionally, isn’t this duplicating what can already be done on AppleVis by creating a new forum for these discussions? Thanks, as I think it’s important to let people know exactly what you have in mind and how this works.
I agree.
I'm a bit confused as to what this will actually do.
Also, why don't you want to talk about what apple said to you here?
I've posted this link to r/blind on reddit but might take it down if we don't have a clear answer as to what this is.
What does answering these questions do? Will it send the answers to the apple accessability team after people fill out the form?
note for IOS users and ansering a few things
**Important Note for iPhone Users:**
To fill in the rating, you need to either double-tap and hold or use a three-finger tap. Simply double-tapping on the choice you want will not work.
By filling out this form, I will be able to identify those interested in helping out. I will then coordinate with my contact person to arrange a meeting for all of us. This meeting will likely be virtual, using a platform like Zoom, but details will be confirmed later.
This initiative began after a phone call I had a couple of weeks ago, where I provided feedback about using VoiceOver on the Mac. I also mentioned feedback I've seen on AppleVis, which my contact is aware of. He then suggested that I put together a team of people who are serious about providing feedback. This would give us the opportunity to connect with VoiceOver engineers directly.
I also want to extend this effort to include those with low vision who use any low vision features.
Thank you to the person who posted this on r/Blind. I hope this answers some questions!
Thanks for answering my questions.
I don't have any issues with my phone so won't be signing up but if others do, good luck.
Have you thought about switching form platforms, like google forms for example? or perhaps you could contact each person with a coppied email that they would fill out through notepad or something and then they'd send the mesages back?
I hope this works out for you,, I really do.
Oh and no problem.
Hopefully others see the link on r/blind and comment here or at least fill out the form.
Any Affiliation with the Apple Support Community?
I'm wondering about this in part because I was searching for something and ended up bookmarking an Apple support article. That led me to sign back into the afore-mentioned community after almost 10 years. Long story short, I've been having an issue with an app used to schedule work-out sessions and secure my spot in some of the classes that are offered. I'm pretty sure this issue is on my end, but when I talked with a trainer this morning in the studio she was very understanding. She happens to be the studio founder. In any case, I'd love to join this effort and have both a Mac and an iPhone. Thus far I've been very impressed with VoiceOver, but there's always room for improvement.
Seriously?
There's a really big part of me that thinks this is a joke. We've sent tons and tons of feedback to Apple, only for them to send us canned responses and do absolutely nothing. This is one of the many reasons I don't use Apple products anymore. If this is true, what changed their minds? Why hasn't someone from Apple come here and made an official statement? Believe me, I'd love it if this was true, but I'm not personally convinced.
Meetings online? Sounds to me like a club.
I hope it works because some people might not be able to accompany you at the time of the meeting. I thought it would be about submitting reports not meetings. But I wish you good luck with this project. If I had the time, I would join to help in whichever way I could, but I won't be able to do so.
regarding meetings
My goal is to not just have virtual sessions. I want the team to be able to be reached via email as well. will see what happens down the road.
Leery about this
Why is Apple reaching out to one person to do that? They have accessibility team and the accessibility team needs another team to work on its behalf. come on, that can't be true. I would be very careful not to pass any personal information, everyone.
Possible connections, maybe?
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make a zoom meeting, but I could provide some feedback through email, if that's acceptable.
Also, I don't think you're going to confirm this or not, but for the persons who are asking, what makes you legitimate, is it because of your status? Aren't you that kid who was on the Ellen show back in the day? I'm pretty sure I saw a post on Facebook, something about a new album? On your shoulders, or something to that extent? I'm guessing that you would most likely have some connections to the technology world, even if that's indirectly. Yes, you might not exactly be leveraging your privilege or connections, but your name alone, should get you places where the average blind person probably wouldn't be able to access. If this is the case, it's cool. I am more of a pop girl myself, but I respect your work. One of my friends came to see you in, a music hall, was it Carnegie? Yeah, 2011, I think. I don't know if you have any control over this, or not, but you should totally consider putting alternative text descriptions on your photos. I know that you're a jazz musician, but, you should totally think about doing an interview on the Zach Sang show.
Promising
I don't have much joy with the accessibility team - if this brings us closer to those that actually work with VoiceOver then it can only be worth a try.
I'm not sure how well timezones will work with group calls. I'm also not really prepared to install beta software on my Mac. (I have an older one but it is now locked on Ventura)
But if it's OK I will still sign up - God knows I complain about my Mac enough so it's only right. But not sure how useful I will be.
Update
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.
God knows that mac…
God knows that mac definitely needs this
If I can have concrete proof…
If I can have concrete proof and can avoid me reselling my mac very soon then why not. Gonna give it a try, e.g.: waiting to know clearly what's the deal with what sounds like promissing thing.
I don't have a Mac but
I don't have a Mac, but the form says it's not taking responses anymore so I can't sign up. but I can get a groups.io email list put together, that way your Apple Contact and everyone can collaborate.
Closed so soon?
Hi there,
I guess my Mona notifications aren't working correctly. I totally missed this post.
Reading it, I was totally up for signing up, but it seems the form was closed only two days after it was posted.
Is there any chance it will open up again, or is there any other way one can still get in this late?
Thank you.
Same question here as well.
Same question here as well.
Form is already closed
Very strange to post this then close the form so quickly. If it's genuine one would expect welcoming as many from the community as interested.
Market trolling?
Subject.
@brian.
I don't think so.
I think/hope they get on meatings with blind apple staff.
Fair enough
In that case, good luck. 🙂
Closed submissions
Maybe the form closed quickly because they got at least 50 persons who signed up within that time frame? This is a pilot project after all. It wouldn't make sense to take on 100 people, if half of that number can provide the initial feedback. I mean, even with the best intentions, this might not work as expected, and there are no guarantees regarding the end results.
Missed my chance
I see the form's no longer accepting submissions, so think I was too slow to respond.
Hey, this is unfair!
I've posted so many bugs on AppleVis and provided so much feedback directly to Apple via the Apple Accessibility e-mail address and the Feedback Assistant app but I just didn't fill out that form as I concluded this thing would be MacOS-only at least for the time being and therefore just decided to check for new posts less often so the form was closed for new submissions and I couldn't fill it out. I am so serious when asserting my feedback alone would already make VoiceOver way better than it currently is so I am truly willing to collaborate and contribute if my voice is really gonna be heard and my feedback will no longer be ignored by Apple.
Same thing than Enes Deniz
Same thing than Enes Deniz
Nice try
Assembling a team based on who reads a certain thread in a certain time window of two days? Very suspicious to me. Also the secrecy about who talked to whom ... looks like social engineering to me.
This is a scam!
Okay, here me out. Apple wouldn't ask for a team to get involved if they already have an accessibility team would they? No, to the main poster how do we even know if this is a joke or not, seems vary sus! Second, closing the form in a couple days after 50 submissions when you didn't even specify in your main post how many members you're aquiring? Yeah, Ain't buying this at all! I'm so glad you're not asking for money for this, otherwise... You want my honest thoughts? Seems like you just took this on yourself and not, talked with apple even though you said you did. Come on! Do better please... I hope to the people that has signed up realise what you're doing and do not fall for this! There's so much more I'd like to say but ah, well you can figure it out I'm sure. Also, to the main poster, Please think what you're doing before you ah, actually do it?
@Jonathan Candler
You've summarized the thoughts and feelings of many here. I don't see anything else to add as you put it very well. Yes, macos definitely need this initiative, but clearly this is not one. At the very least crappy communication.
To the previous poster, The…
To the previous poster, The main poster should have known better by now to put out a bunch of useless sh**. Oh well, guess things are too good to be true hmm? I'll not be trusting this poster until I know for sure I have real, viable proof on anything ever again! You broke trust at least with me and it'll not be happening again on my watch! I for one, would have liked to know, who the h*** did you talk to at apple if you even did at all, what was their motive, Was it even a real employee that ah, actually works for apple accessibility team and or apple engineering? These are the real honest questions that should have gone through everyone's minds. If you're keeping information, information that has no reason not to be public, like such questions I've seen here, red big flag right there! If you just did this just to get attention, good for you, you just made a fool out of yourself. I for one did not fil out the form and will not be doing so if said main poster has anyone to do with this ever again! Right, rant over. To the people who fell for this, I sure hope you're hoping not to get anything out of this. I feel so sorry for yall. Na, really!
answers
On july 15th, you said you'd be reaching out. Its been roughly a weak at this point... and given people signed up to this... if nothing else you ow people answers if nothing else. Have you actually contacted the people who signed up? Seriously, if some are right and this was a scam... Shame on you. I'm still holding judgement but, it seems odd, tbh that nothing has happened yet, no updates, etc. To add to that, people here have been asking for proof as to this being genuine so... You should respond, if nothing else. Who is your contact at apple? Why haven't they reached out themselves? Any proof they're actually from apple? Innocent until proven guilty but, you should answer some of the questions on the thread posted by some people in this thread.
definitely looks weird
I would hope that somebody who's been active on Applevis for 8 years wouldn't then go scam said community, but this definitely doesn't feel legit to me.
On the rare chance that this is legit, then I'm really concerned that somebody at Apple would think this to be a good idea. Asking a random member of the blind community to organize such an event rather than using their own people feels unprofessional and not something a corporation of that size would be allowed to do.
The OP never shared the original email exchange with Apple that led to this event, the form was created on Microsoft Forms and nothing about it looked like it came from Apple, and lastly, having 50 people in a zoom meeting providing feedback would require several good moderators and a whole lot of time.
Do any on the Applevis moderation or editorial team have any direct connection with Apple? It would be nice to know straight from the source whether this is real or not.
Why I thought this form could be worth filling out
I just know that Matthew Whitaker is an active member of some WhatsApp groups part of a community aimed at bringing visually-impaired individuals with similar interests together. I guess he's the founder of the Musescore accessibility group and this is why I thought he might actually be up to something useful.
No personal information disclosed
No private/personal information beyond name and e-mail address was requested on the form, so if this doesn't turn into a real project, those who completed the form won't be losing anything of substance.
I agree, though, that if Apple were planning to engage with users of assistive technologies on their devices, they would be more likely to use their own infrastructure to do it.
Lack of responsiveness to bug reports in general (not confined to accessibility issues) has been a point of criticism of Apple, including specific concerns raised publicly about the limitations of the beta feedback system.
Re: Why I thought this form could be worth filling out
If this was useful it wouldn't be coming from a con artest. Oh oops, did I just say that out loud? I think he's just collecting information for plesure and is gunna be putting people's names and email addresses out there for the world to see. This isn't anything legit for if it were, this all would have been done by apple and apple themselves. Oh wow and he didn't even contact any of you who philled out said form? Shame, shame, shame on him! I think he should be at least given a warning, or, banned! This is not acceptable! Hey, look at it this way, at least no one gave any money to him, yall would have been screwed! The thought that he's been on this site for 8 years or so and is now doing this sort of thing discussed me! I cannot stand people who do these sort of things. If I ran a site like this, this kid would have been banned by now! sorry not sorry!