Hello, all:
During the past month I have called Apple's Accessibility Department four times. The support has been very good to excellent, except for one time when the tech had no idea about VoiceOver gestures and couldn't locate them. I even received an email from a Senior Advisor inviting me to contact her with other questions, should I have them.
For anyone who doubts Apple's unflagging commitment to accessibility, those of you in North America should be aware that Accessibility Support is available, both via email and by phone, around the clock, seven days a week!
Yes, there are still accessibility bugs lurking around, some of them major. However, I believe that for many of them there might be possible work-arounds. In any event, we should praise accessibility staff when appropriate and firmly, but politely, point out problems where and when they occur, in both iOS and Mac OS.
Despite Apple's accessibility shortcomings, and they do exist, I am convinced that there is no other corporation in the world that provides as much consistent out-of-the-box accessibility as does Apple. And no, I am not a "fanboy". I hope that Google, Microsoft and other corporations will someday match Apple's strong commitment to accessibility. I also hope that Apple will extend its 24/7 email and phone accessibility support throughout the rest of the world.
Regards to everyone,
Daveed Mandell
Comments
AGREE!!
Hello! I've had 2 call accessibility 2 or 3 times as well. I am a noobie 2 VoiceOver & have had 2 mostly train myself due to incinuating circumstances. Each time I have called the IT. professionals have been _supper nice, caring & more importantly klounligeable about VoiceOver. Every time I have called I've gotten through on the first try! I use th 1877 204 3930 number. Kudos 2 Apple!
I've called them a few times
I've called them a few times and they've been very helpful. One time I called with an issue with my apple tv. I was told from the accessibility team that they don't know a lot about the apple tv but they got me in touch with someone that did. I love apple!
I agree
I had to call them last night and they were helpful. It was fixed. The accessibility support is great!
they have helped me more than
they have helped me more than once. At one point my braille screen input was locked in screen away mode and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out it was a real simple fix . I felt bad for bothering them, but I was told that I am far from a bother, that things like that happen all the time. At least we could laugh about it. LOL.
Couldn't've Said It Better Myself
I couldn't have put this better myself. I have contacted Apple accessibility and AppleCare a few times. Not only was I treated with the utmost respect and dignity each time, but my issues were resolved in a timely manner. One of these times a tutor and I were on speaker phone with an AppleCare representative, and the guy treated us both very nicely. I had another AppleCare representative basically tell me that he really enjoyed helping people like myself. Judging from his tone of voice I think he meant that he enjoyed helping people with disabilities. I really appreciated that sentiment. I only wish I could say the same thing about that time I had to call a certain other company's accessibility hotline. Their representative was very friendly, but it took him 4 hours or so and my issue was still not resolved. I'll say no more about that, but thanks once again Apple for doing a superb job on accessibility.
Not specifically accessibility, but great support all the same!
I called Apple when my iPhone wasn't being backed up properly to iTunes. I had to make a backup over iCloud in the meantime, but I like encrypted iTunes backups better, because they back up more stuff. I was preparing to transfer the content from my old 4S to my new 6S. Turns out that the issue was with the mobile USB driver, and we had to update it or reinstall it or something, but they spent an hour trying to fix things. We had to get a senior rep on the phone to help out, because the other rep was half way there in terms of the procedure, but not quite. It got solved in the end, and I was able to do backups with iTunes after that just fine. Apple's support, accessibility or otherwise, has always been fanominal!
Thanks,
Shersey