Apple’s Shoutout to AirPods Pro Hearing aids more meaningful than mere Marketing

While taking a break from my inbox this afternoon, I came across this post on X from my pal Mark Gurman of Bloomberg in which he shares news Apple today pushed a redesigned Health section of its site. The header, stylized with a color-shifting gradient in the background, features the tagline “Meaningful insights. Backed by science.”

What compels me to report on this ostensibly ho-hum change is Apple’s callout of its hearing health features in AirPods Pro 2. The software, which debuted alongside Apple Intelligence last October within iOS 18.1, includes a clinical-grade hearing test which enable AirPods Pro to act as an over-the-counter hearing aid. The timing was fortuitous, as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a month earlier it authorized what it called the “first over-the-counter hearing aid software” for Apple’s earbuds.

“About 1.5 billion people around the world are living with hearing loss—and millions are unaware that they’re affected by it,” Apple’s marketing copy reads on its redesigned Health page. “To help you better understand your hearing and make caring for it more accessible, our medical and audio specialists worked together to develop an end-to-end hearing health experience for AirPods Pro 2.”

The company notes over 150,000 “real-world audiograms and millions of simulations” were used in developing the hearing test on iPhone and AirPods Pro.

Two things are simultaneously true about Apple’s new Health webpage:

1. It’s an opportunity for product marketing; and

2. It’s an opportunity to highlight the accessibility gains of using said product.

To the first statement, of course Greg Joswiak and Tor Myhren’s teams would seize yet another chance to hawk Apple’s wares. That’s literally part of the executives’ job description. To deride the new Health page as nothing but a pure marketing ploy is cynical and disingenuous because it implies the obvious—a for-profit business wanting to make money—is somehow icky or immoral. This point ties into the second statement, which is eminently relevant from a disability perspective. To wit, while one can acknowledge the marketing machinations at work, it’s also important to acknowledge the gravity of said marketing. This sentiment isn’t trivial; despite Apple being strident in their messaging that the AirPods’ hearing aids are intended for only those who cope with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, that the company is making more inroads on accessibility vis-a-vis the hearing aid market is a highly non-trivial development.

Apple is a pretty big and influential corporation nowadays, in case you haven’t heard.

Blake Cadwell, co-founder and CEO of Soundly, told me so in an interview last year.

“There are very few brands that can transform public opinion and actions in the way that Apple does,” he said of the significance of AirPods Pro becoming bonafide hearing aids. “The hearing feature in AirPods Pro marks a milestone in culture’s acceptance of hearing aids and hearing loss as a more normal part of daily life. The World Health Organization estimates that, by 2050, 1 in every 10 people will have disabling hearing loss. It’s something that also affects me personally. My own journey with hearing loss is what led to the creation of Soundly along with a deep sense of wanting to help others going through a similar process that can often feel frustrating and confusing.”

Even more pointedly, Cadwell continued by saying Apple’s then-newfound hearing aid feature has profound potential to “undoubtedly encourage more people to start their hearing journey now, rather than waiting another year—or even ten.”

Besides AirPods Pro sales, that notion of encouragement is exactly what Apple’s new Health page is built to bolster. Consider this: It’s highly plausible someone in the market for a hearing aid may be delighted to discover the AirPods Pro they already use every day to listen to music and podcasts are capable—and appropriate—in helping them hear better. That notion means something; it’s a testament to the gravity of highlighting an accessibility feature to the mainstream—whether during the holidays or right now.

How The Air Out App makes attaining Emotional ‘Instant Relief’ accessible to All

The Air Out app, available on iOS and Android, strikes me as a personalized version of the similar-in-scope Blind for professionals. On its website, Air Out describes itself in part as enabling people to “vent, confess, and even brag in the six themed chat areas—without any debate!” Air Out says it’s fast, effective, and provides users “instant relief.”

Air Out’s six spaces are named Moms, Dads, Work, Love, Vent, and Brag.

“Think of it as a virtual diary of sorts: [it’s] a place to vent, confess, and brag privately,” Courtney Stanfield, Air Out’s founder, said in describing the app during a recent interview with me. “What we don’t say, we store in our bodies; a small negative thought can quickly build, leaving you feeling weighed down, bad about yourself, and stuck. When you give thoughts and feelings a place to go you are freeing yourself, instantly. It is a quick and effective tool for keeping your peace when emotions run high.”

Stanfield, a mother to three children and a longtime Canadian broadcaster who’s the weekend weather anchor in two major cities, explained to me Air Out’s origin story traces back to its beginnings as an outlet for parents. Air Out’s original conceit was to, according to Stanfield, “help parents with the struggles of raising kids” but which quickly widened its aperture so as to be accommodating of everyone. Air Out’s target demographic is people ages 13 and older, with Stanfield saying the software is “a helpful tool for anyone and everyone wanting to feel more peaceful, confident, and at ease during their day.” Brevity and concision drive Air Out’s posting, as the app has a 100-character limit with language filters in place. Notably, there are zero mechanisms for liking or commenting on posts; in this sense, Air Out is the “anti-social media” app of sorts. Users are able to view their previous posts, but that’s it. Air Out is for the user.

“The idea came to me in a dream and I started emailing app development companies in the middle of the night because the vision was so profound,” Stanfield said to me in describing where Air Out’s roots lie. “I want to help people help themselves, and this is an easy way to stop feeling stuck, stop being impacted by the thoughts that aren’t even yours. Our thoughts are often just a byproduct of our emotional and energetic state, not a reflection of us. When you ‘green light’ the thoughts you wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing for fear of judgement, giving them a place to go, you make space in your body and mind. With anonymity, we are all equal and safe to express ourselves freely.”

Stanfield conceded making Air Out “has been a huge learning experience and leap of faith as this is completely out of my wheelhouse. She leapt into app development because “nothing like [Air Out] exists” and she wanted to help people “feel better.” She added she’s a “firm believer” in the idea of “being able to separate from your thoughts and not buying into the criticisms, self-doubt, and frustration we all experience.”

Air Out has been out only a few months, with Stanfield continually amazed at how she, with the help of a software development firm, is a developer. “It’s not where I thought life would take me,” she said, “but I am very excited to be here and see how it grows!”

At its core, Air Out is all about accessibility. Stanfield said as much, telling me that by providing an anonymized safe space where one can speak their mind without fear of neither judgment nor retribution, “you are safe to express yourself freely and are allowing the weight of them to fall off your shoulders.” Stanfield’s sentiments are of particular poignance to the disability community. Already a group casted away to live at the margin’s margin societally, it can be difficult, if not downright impossible, to talk about things such as systemic ableism without the aforementioned fears of judgment and reprisal. This is not at all trivial, as talking about disability (and disability inclusion) is oftentimes fraught with emotional and logistical landmines. In a world where not an insignificant number of people without disabilities characterize being disabled as a fate worse than death, take it from me: it can be hard to bite one’s tongue and not say everything you want to say out of fear of the reaction. Given this context, a place like Air Out is an outlet to share those thoughts and feelings in an anonymized environment. In essence, Air Out can be a conduit through which a disabled person—or anyone else, really—can attain some measure of better mental health by baring their soul to no one.

Air Out’s testimonials speak to that ideal. One user, Jess C, said in part it has been “a lifesaver” and lauded the ability to “vent without worrying about anyone judging me.”

As to the future for Air Out, Stanfield is hopeful more people try it. The app exists, she said, “so you can make space in your life to feel lighter,” while noting early feedback centers on “how great it felt to say someone out loud, how freeing it is to actually say the things you wouldn’t say to anyone, and how refreshing it is to see we are not alone.”

Long-term, Stanfield believes Air Out has potential to become a “revolutionary space.”

“I hope the word continues to spread about the app and it lands in the right hands of the right people to help it grow,” she said of Air Out’s prospects for the future.

National hockey League Earns Sports Emmy Nominations for ‘NHL × ASL’ Telecasts, More

NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika reported earlier this month about the National Hockey League (NHL) garnering 9 Sports Emmy nominations this year. One of those nominations is for the league’s production work on its “NHL × ASL” broadcasts.

The NHL describes the “NHL × ASL” as “an alternate telecast dedicated completely to the Deaf community using American Sign Language.” The broadcasts are co-produced with the team at Deaf inclusion company PXP. The “NHL × ASL” telecast is available exclusively on ESPN+ in the United States and on SportsNet+ in Canada. For its part, PXP describes its mission on its website as advocating for the “access, inclusion, and representation in professional sports for Deaf and hard-of-hearing sports fans.”

“We were just blown away by how the [“NHL × ASL”] took off,” Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events,” said to Cotsonika. “We’ve always felt like this was so unique and so valuable and meaningful. To be recognized, for a lot of people who put in some spectacular amounts of work, this is just an amazing, amazing accomplishment.”

If the “NHL × ASL” rings a bell, it should. I’ve covered it extensively over the last year or so, having sat down virtually last year with founder and chief executive officer Brice Christianson for an interview about partnering with the NHL to bring the “NHL × ASL” broadcasts to life. Christianson is, like yours truly, a CODA and explained to me in part it’s a “dream come true” to work alongside such an “incredible” partner like the NHL.

“This [partnership with the NHL] has been a partnership that has evolved over the past couple of years,” Christianson told me last year. “It’s a blueprint on how sports teams and leagues can operate with an authentic allyship lens. It’s a blueprint on how access does not have to be complicated. There’s a lot of time that goes into it. Oftentimes it’s restructuring the system, but it really does come down to just communication, belief, and execution. Like I said, I’m not here without the NHL… guaranteed.”

ESPN and TNT, TV partners of the league, nabbed 7 and 2 nominations, respectively.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the nominees earlier this month. The 46th annual event is slated for May 20 at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

Using AI to build wordPress sites shows How AI makes web work more accessible

Umar Shakir reported for The Verge earlier this month about WordPress.com launching an AI-powered site builder in “early access.” According to Shakir, the new tool is able to “construct your WordPress webpage, including fully written text, layout, generated images, and more,” with WordPress itself boasting the new software can “make beautiful, functional websites in minutes.” Shakir caveats the AI site builder can neither create e-commerce sites nor those with “complex integrations.” But fear not: according to WordPress, the AI site builder will see these jobs come to them over time.

“It takes your input and instantly creates a fully designed, content-ready WordPress website, complete with text, layouts, and images, for you,” WordPress says of its AI-powered site builder software. “Just you and your vision, with AI handling the rest.”

WordPress posted a video demonstrating the site builder to YouTube.

WordPress’ new site builder is notable from an accessibility standpoint in that it shines more light on the notion that artificial intelligence has profound potential to do genuine good for people. A person with disabilities who may have fine-motor delays, for instance, that limits their use of a mouse and keyboard very well could find the WordPress site builder a more accessible avenue to build their website(s). Instead of clicking-and-dragging elements around (like in Squarespace, for example) and/or writing a lot of HTML/CSS code, they instead can type out a few sentences with prompts for what they want to AI to do for them. Likewise, it’s highly plausible building a website goes beyond the ken of someone with certain cognitive conditions, as there’s a good degree of complexity in what-you-see-is-what-you-get tools such as the aforementioned Squarespace. That someone with intellectual disabilities harnesses AI in this manner isn’t a “cheat code” or lazy; on the contrary, it shows how AI can be a true assistive technology for those who need the help. Like with chatbots in ChatGPT or Gemini helping do research for school essays, to use AI for, in this case, building websites, should be applauded and recognized for its shrewdness rather than lament its laziness. The salient point is not everyone can create websites—or do research—in the traditional ways, no matter how tried-and-true they may be for the mainstream.

Although Curb Cuts (and my portfolio page) are built atop Squarespace, my old blog was hosted on WordPress—first the dot-com, then the self-hosted version. The reason I moved to Squarespace was (a) I have friends whose podcasts have them as a sponsor; and (b) I grew tired of self-hosting and wanted something easy yet equally robust and nice-looking. Squarespace checks those boxes for me, as it’s easy to click-and-drag elements and customize things, yet flexible enough to indulge my nerdy side and allow me to pop open the proverbial hood and tinker with code-level changes. In fact, I did this just recently to Curb Cuts regarding CSS customization. What’s more, I ran into a couple situations where I needed answers to questions; rather than comb Google for umpteenth GitHub and Reddit threads, I asked Gemini to provide me with some code, which I copy-and-pasted into my CMS. Not only did I add some cool bits of branding to the site, but I did it accessibly with help from my newly-preferred generative AI chatbot.

An Ode is Owed To Apple Sports

Zac Hall at 9to5 Mac reported this week Apple updated its Apple Sports app with a new social feature the company calls Game Card Sharing. The update, he writes, comes just in time for Sunday’s F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The race can be seen on ESPN, ESPN+, and F1 TV. To date, Apple Sports remains (frustratingly) exclusive to iOS and the iPhone.

“Game Card Sharing generates dynamic game cards, not just static game stats, for any league supported by Apple Sports,” Hall said in describing the newly-announced functionality in Apple Sports. “These cards can be shared directly from Apple Sports over iMessage or on social media for events that are live, upcoming, or completed.”

I’m happy to report it surely didn’t take long for Apple Sports to become one of my most favorite, and oft-used, apps since it debuted in February of last year. My pal and peer Jason Snell at Six Colors posted an interview with Apple services chief Eddy Cue when the app came out, with Cue telling Snell in part the raison d'être for building Apple Sports is because “I just want to get the damn score of the game.” He added Apple sought to make Apple Sports “the best scores app that you could possibly make.”

That last sentiment feels not the least bit blustery; Apple Sports is damn good. As a diehard sports fan, the app has made keeping track of, say, the Giants, 49ers, and Warriors more accessible (and enjoyable!) to me. I love the design of the app—the aforementioned Game Cards are beautiful and the scores are presented with large digits—while also enjoying how the Game Cards has detailed information like stats and more. If I had one complaint, it’s that the logistical info—venue, start time, and TV listings—are way down at the bottom of the Game Card. Such pertinent information should be on top, in my opinion—especially given Apple thought it fitting to include a “Open in tv” button in that space. Moreover, Apple Sports shines particularly brightly if you, like me, have an iPhone with a Dynamic Island. Keeping tabs of my favorite teams are made even more accessible; so much so, in fact, that I would never consider an iPhone like the 16e, which omits the Dynamic Island. Apple Sports exemplifies a point a made to another Apple executive in Alan Dye, who leads the company’s famed industrial design group. I spoke with him for a few minutes in the hands-on area in Steve Jobs Theater after the iPhone 14 press event in September 2022. My biggest piece of feedback was emphasizing how the Dynamic Island could make tracking things like kitchen timers and, in this case, sports scores more accessible than hopping from app to app. Apple Sports is an exemplar of that notion. Live Activities is a great feature/API.

All this praise I’ve heaped onto Apple Sports thus far is, while merited, doesn’t mean the app is beyond reproach. It’s not! Every time I see a story about Apple Sports getting an update, as I did this week, I wait with bated breath to see if Apple has brought the app to the iPad. It kills me, some 18 months later, that Apple Sports still isn’t there yet. I could technically use the iPhone app on iPadOS, but I’d rather have a native app. This is much in the same vein as how I’d rather use native Mac apps than resort to web apps in Safari.

Call me a snob, but I simply prefer native apps to web apps most of the time.

At this point, Instagram may release its unicorn iPad app before Apple Sports gets one.

Another bit of criticism for Apple Sports is the incessant banner ad in the app I see for MLS Season Pass. I like the league, and I’ve thought about signing up, but it feels intrusive and distasteful to put an ad in a place with ostensibly such a narrow focus.

Anyway, go to the App Store and get Apple Sports if you haven’t already. It’s the best.

Beats’ New Colored USB-C Cables Illustrate that Color is more than Merely Cosmetic

My pal Chance Miller reported for 9to5 Mac earlier this week about Beats announcing its first-ever line of USB-C cables. The company bills the new cables as “[a] collection of reinforced charging cables in an assortment of lengths and colors,” according to Miller. A single cable costs $19, while a 2-pack costs $35. The cables are available now.

According to Miller, Beats’ colorful new cables come in several varieties: USB-C to USB-C, USB-A to USB-C, and USB-C to Lightning. The color choices are Bolt Black, Surge Stone, Nitro Navy, and Rapid Red. Notably, the red variety USB-A to USB-C (1.5 m) and USB-C to Lightning (1.5 m) aren’t available until “this summer,” according to Beats.

Beats has shared an introductory video for the new accessories.

What’s most interesting to me about this development is not merely that there now exists Beats-branded cables—not exactly billboard-worthy products—it’s that these cables are colorful. From an accessibility standpoint, that the cables are colored means they have very real potential to be an accessibility aid in helping someone distinguish which cables go to what. For instance, someone with certain cognitive conditions—or anyone, really—might plausibly decide the aforementioned red USB-C cable is to be used strictly for their iPhone charging. Likewise, that same person could decide the blue cable is for charging their Apple TV’s Siri Remote. The permutations are endless, but the salient point is only that the colorful nature of these cables could very well be a de-facto accessibility feature for identifying the devices to which they’re attached. In this sense, the colors are far more impactful in actual use than sheer stylistic symbols.

As other illustrations of this concept, consider color-coded HDMI cables on Amazon. The whole point of making them colorful is more about pragmatism than prettiness. For those who have lots of devices hooked up to their TV, these colored HDMI cables can go a long way in knowing, for instance, that the Apple TV 4K is connected via the yellow cable while the PlayStation 5 is running through the blue one. Similarly, colored ethernet cables do the same job. I recently tore apart our home theater setup, then summarily rebuilt it, on a quest for simplification and to conquer a massive rat’s nest of unused cables. I have a gigabit Ethernet switch running off the back of our Eero system, which runs cables to the Apple TV, Starling Home Hub, and HDHomeRun. Everything works with aplomb, but the trouble is I sometimes can’t tell which cable connects to what device. Ergo, color-coded Ethernet cables would make that more accessible.

As one last example, my keychain is colored for accessibility’s sake. It’s an official AirTag Leather Key Ring in the California Poppy color. This product has long been discontinued, and yellow isn’t even my favorite color, but I specifically chose it because it’s bold and bright—both attributes which would make grabbing my keys more visually accessible as someone with low vision. (Apple replaced the Leather Key Ring with a FineWoven version that’s both visually and functionally nigh identical to what I have.)

Beyond colors, Miller reports Beats’ cables feature an “anti-fray design” engineered by Apple. He notes the cables have undergone what is described by Apple as “thousands of hours of testing.” The cables are designed for charging, syncing, data transfer, audio, and CarPlay. Of note, fast charging is supported on select iPhone and iPad models.

I’m compelled to point out Beats’ cables are a bit of a double-edged sword. As I’ve written innumerable times, USB-C cables, however standardized, are fairly inaccessible in terms of hand-eye coordination. The nerds all clamor for One Cable To Rule Them All, but they fail to realize—because they take it for granted—that cable oneness is only truly meaningful if you can manipulate the cable in the first place. Not everyone can easily do this; it would be more innovative to, say, fuse MagSafe with USB-C. And lest anyone cries proprietary, as someone who’s chosen the Apple ecosystem, I’ll take a USB-C cable slathered with the company’s special sauce if it means the cables are more inclusive of my needs. Miss me with the precious pearl-clutching over standards.

The news of Beats-branded cables comes months after the company surprisingly released branded cases (made out of plastic) for the then-new iPhone 16 lineup.

How The ‘Fridge to bridge the world’ Makes medicinal transport More accessible to all

The Earth Prize describes itself as “the world’s largest environmental competition for young people” ages 13–19. It has seen participation from innovators spanning 150 countries, with its stated goal being to “inspire and empower the next generation of environmental leaders and innovators, creating a global platform for sharing and scaling their solutions.” Beginning this year, The Earth Prize is giving $12,500 to winners representing seven regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Central & South America, and Oceania. In addition, The Earth Prize is recognizing three Mentors and three Educators of the Year, with each honoree receiving a $2,500 prize.

In what it said is “a bid to improve healthcare accessibility and energy disparity,” The Earth Prize has announced the Asia winners of this year’s awards is Thermavault. The Earth Prize describes the device as “a first-of-its-kind, electricity-free refrigeration unit for medical supply transport in remote areas, using reusable salt-based reactions.” The trio behind Thermavault in Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain, call their invention “a fridge to bridge the world.” The young men who designed and developed Thermavault are students at the Shishukunj International School at Indore.

In a brief interview conducted earlier this month via videoconference, Ladhania and his co-creators explained to me “we’re all from families which have medical backgrounds,” adding that context “was indeed a part of what led us to develop Thermavault and target the supply of medical transport.” He said work on Thermavault began only recently when, in November of last year, the friends took part in a science fair at their school involving a project that created a cooling system which could replace conventional air conditioners. The system, Ladhania said, would be “about 40% more efficient” than standard AC units. That technology triggered a brainstorm: using the concept, scaled down to the size of a smallish box, to swap out air conditioners for refrigerators instead. The idea, Ladhania told me, would be to use the cooling system in fridges specifically designed to transport medication such as vaccines. As The Earth Prize is an environmentally-oriented endeavor, Ladhania said the main problem is most medical fridges require enormous amounts of electricity to function properly, which is problematic in rural parts of the world that doesn’t see a steady stream of reliable electricity—if at all—due to a lack of the infrastructure needed for delivery. There are concerns around pollution and subsequent environmental degradation. The team seized an opportunity to fill “a gap that needs to be addressed,” Ladhania said.

According to Ladhania, 1.2 billion people worldwide live without access to electricity. Besides missing out on basic things like the internet, the lack of power spells trouble for medicinal transport for those who need it; Ladhania said a standard refrigerator isn’t viable because there’s no electricity, while a single-use fridge is wasteful and not reusable. You’d need electricity anyway to make more ice. Enter Thermavault, which for people who live without access to electricity, is a lifeline to critical medication(s). The device, Ladhania told me, is marketed as “a reusable, environmentally-friendly cooling alternative for vaccine storage.” It isn’t solely a solution for moving vaccines—it can be applied to other medications requiring cold to remain viable for maximal efficiency.

"While our major pitching point has been about vaccines, we do see other use cases,” Ladhania said. “Thermavault is applicable for transport of any medical supply which requires a very specific temperature range of either 0° to 10° Celsius or subzero temperatures. In the future, we do think Thermavault has potential to be scaled up to a model that could maybe even tackle storing food supplies or be used as an industrial cooling solution. As of now, our major focus has been on helping people in need [and] people suffering from that energy disparity… we try to bridge that gap in the world.”

It’s these sentiments about helping people in need that carry the most resonance from an accessibility standpoint. While the technological and engineering aspects of Thermavault are undoubtedly impressive, what struck me when deciding to cover Thermavault was its potential effects on the disability community. To wit, there surely are people with disabilities living in rural areas across the continents. Many very likely need some sort of life-sustaining medication. For these people, then, Thermavault has the capacity to be a literal lifesaver insofar as the device can deliver said medication(s) in a safe and efficient manner. These people need medication, whether they have electricity or not. Thermavault is a solution reflective of that reality. In this sense, that Thermavault is built with an environmental consciousness, what with its salt packets, is beside the point. It’s the proverbial icing on the cake. At its core, Thermavault is an assistive technology built for accessibility and, ultimately, the betterment of society.

When asked about feedback on Thermavault, the team told me one of the greatest, most validating experience of Thermavault’s development was getting the opportunity to field-test the product in order to test its efficacy. It was invaluable for the team to use what was a “basic prototype” not solely in a controlled, pristine lab setting but also within an “erratic environment” in the real world. Moreover, Thermavault was tested in a hospital over a three-week period and garnered positive reviews from workers there. Ladhania said the hospital staff came away “rather impressed” by the device’s capabilities, adding they were especially taken by “the possibility of how the reward could potentially transform a simple problem that they face on a day-to-day basis.”

“[Thermavault was] pretty well-received by the medical industry,” he said.

Looking towards the future, the team told me they “look forward” to getting Thermavault certified by regulatory bodies, telling me they’d like to begin the process with local governments. Longer-term, the team aspires to work its way up the proverbial ladder to spark talks with the Indian government and maybe even organizations such as the venerable World Health Organization. Certification, they told me, aligns with their collective vision on scaling Thermavault. Ladhania said the team feels Thermavault “can have great international impact.” And with the Earth Prize earnings, the team hopes to use a portion of the money to patent its technology.

The Earth Prize is overseen by the eponymously-named Earth Foundation, a Switzerland-based nonprofit. The Foundation describes its mission as “dedicated to inspiring, educating, mentoring, and empowering students and young entrepreneurs to address environmental challenges with innovative ideas.” The Earth Prize, alongside the Earth Foundation Alliance, are “flagship initiatives” intended to “foster an ecosystem that accelerates positive change toward environmental sustainability.”

Voting for The Earth Prize’s 2025 Global Winner is open until Earth Day on April 22.

How Orangetheory Fitness Makes getting Buff more accessible to this deaf gym Rat

Today’s more than Tax Day and Jackie Robinson Day. Today’s also National ASL Day.

National ASL Day is special for Jason Wagner. Wagner, who was born Deaf and raised in New York City, lives in Indiana with his wife Vanessa and their two children. Deeply involved with his community, Wagner serves on various boards and committees dedicated to advancing accessibility and advocacy for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Professionally, Wagner is a national sales director for Video Relay Services.

He’s also a gym rat, being a member of Orangetheory Fitness (OTF).

Originally joining OTF before the pandemic hit in 2020, Wagner went away for a few years before returning to the brand in August 2024. In a recent interview conducted over email, Wagner told me he’s always valued health and fitness—beyond OTF, Wagner enjoys running marathons, taking on endurance challenges, and more—and was “so glad” to come back to OTF. The gym, he said, has helped take his fitness journey to “a whole new level.” More pointedly, what’s most endearing about OTF to Wagner is how accessible the company has made it for him in order to participate as a Deaf person.

“Orangetheory stands out to me because of its structured format and visual coaching, which makes it more accessible for Deaf individuals like me,” Wagner said to me about what makes OTF stand out in his experiences. “For example, the OTconnect heart rate monitoring system offers real-time feedback, and the workout stations are straightforward and easy to follow. More importantly, Orangetheory makes me feel included. It’s a space where I can interact with others, challenge myself and feel part of a supportive community. I anticipated that communication might be a challenge at first, but in the same way this community has supported me through fitness, I’ve seen the coaches and staff also support me by learning and adapting—and that makes a huge difference. Orangetheory offers more than just a great workout by providing a sense of connection and encouragement that keeps me motivated to reach new goals.”

Wagner’s local OTF location has allowed him to cultivate strong interpersonal relationships, all of which have enriched his experience there. Navigating a group fitness environment for a Deaf person can be challenging, if not downright intimidating, but Wagner connected with a coach at OTF who had a background in speaking ASL. This made Wagner feel more at ease and included in the group. Likewise, Wagner connected with a fellow member named Rob, who also has a background in ASL. He grew up signing with his Deaf twin and provides interpretation for Wagner; the camaraderie has proven so strong that Wagner has introduced OTF to friends—and is even teaching ASL to coaches and other OTF members in an effort to fortify the bonds forged at the gym.

“I’ve also encouraged others in the Deaf community to try Orangetheory,” Wagner said of his evangelism of the company to newbies. “I truly believe it’s a great option for anyone looking for a structured, supportive workout environment.”

When asked about feedback, Wagner said staff at OTF has “always been open” to his comments and critiques. He’s suggested better accessibility by way of what he called “using clearer visual cues to ensuring staff understand Deaf communication needs.”

Looking towards the future, Wagner is hopeful more fitness spaces look to OTF and follow their lead in giving greater access to disabled people who want to get workouts in like anyone else. The importance of inclusion, Wagner told me, is crucial because everyone, regardless of one’s ability level, is entitled to “feel empowered to prioritize their health.” For his own personal sake, Wagner looks forward to “keep pushing my own limits by taking on more marathons and endurance challenges in the future.”

On its website, the purpose of National ASL Day is described as a time to “honor our unique heritage in ASL and open opportunities for our community through this holiday.” According to the California Commission on Disability Access, National ASL Day became officially recognized in the United States only recently, in 2019, after a congressional resolution by representatives Mark Takano (D-CA) and David Cicilline (D-RI). Furthermore, the Commission notes April 15th was chosen for National ASL Day to commemorate the anniversary of the 1817 opening of the American School for the Deaf.

“ASL is a tool for communication with its own grammar and cultural norms,” the Commission writes. “ASL Day honors the cultural diversity of Deaf communities and promotes understanding and inclusion for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.”

How Vimeo and Case Jernigan Are Using their ‘Noggin’ to Market the MS Community

Across the expanse known as the tech industry, artificial intelligence is decidedly the technology du jour. AI-powered algorithms are particularly en vogue. Their effects are most felt on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X; the humans running these companies seemingly staunchly believe the robots are more intelligent (and efficient) at presenting users with information they’ll find interesting or relevant. Human curation still is very much a thing, though. As one example, Apple has fleets of humans who daily edit the App Store, Apple Music, Apple News, and other services.

Count New York City-based Vimeo as another fan of flesh-and-blood curators.

Last month, Vimeo marked National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month by awarding a Staff Pick to 5-time Staff Pick honoree Case Jernigan for his latest animated short film called Noggin. The 7-minute movie, critically acclaimed at festivals such as Slamdance 2025, chronicles Jernigan’s journey as he goes through life while managing multiple sclerosis. For Vimeo’s purposes, the raison d’être for its Staff Picks initiative is to shine the proverbial spotlight on work from indie artists exactly like Jernigan—to wit, people who hail from marginalized and underrepresented communities whose work is oftentimes overlooked by algorithms designed to cater towards mainstream audiences.

According to Meghan Oretsky, who serves as lead curator running Vimeo’s Staff Picks program, the program has been around since 2008. For 17 years, she told me during a recent interview, Staff Picks has stood as “a collection of the best short films in the world” created by emerging, as well as established, independent filmmakers. Oretsky’s team sorts its picks into 10 categories, with her telling me “when we’re slotting films into the channel, we’re looking to fill each of those buckets.” Oretsky has been at Vimeo for 11 years, almost as long as the Staff Picks program has been in existence. She said 9 of those years have been spent in the trenches with the company’s curation team.

“I’ve been here for quite a while, so I know quite a bit about our platform,” Oretsky said.

When asked about Vimeo’s machinations for selecting its Staff Picks, Oretsky described it as a “really democratic process.” The curation team, she said, is “tiny” and uses a majority vote to determine which films receives endorsement by way of badging. Specific to Jernigan, Oretsky explained his first Staff Pick came in 2016, with Noggin depicting disability as something not “often heard in film.” To this day, Jernigan’s voice is one Oretsky and her charges want to elevate and one they still “absolutely love.”

Oretsky went on to say Vimeo institutionally “feels a responsibility” to amplify people whose stories “highlight the wide spectrum of human experience around the world.” She added it’s imperative to Vimeo that the company “surface stories you don’t hear enough of, but are true to a specific human experience.” There are odes to the LGBTQ people, Black people, and many more. Disabled people are amongst those highlighted.

“We [at Vimeo] think it’s really important to have special places for [these stories] on the platform,” Oretsky said.

Oretsky was effusive in her praise for Jernigan and for his work on Noggin.

“[Noggin is] like collage meets spoken poetry meets musical musings—it has [Jernigan’s] fingerprints all over it, which makes it really unique,” she said. “He uses literally his own voice to share his world in such a playful and warm and, in the end, an incredibly vulnerable stream of consciousness way. I really love that he uses hand-cut shapes with it… he literally has his fingerprints on it. You can see he’s created that himself with scissors. He creates this dreamy world somewhere between like, our collective reality as humans and his own personal vision as a person who lives with multiple sclerosis, I watched Noggin again, and there was one quote that I felt like summed up his voice. He says, ‘Your spine is spaghetti and your brain is a meatball and you’re on a bicycle on the top of a hill and you’re 4-years-old and you’re about to barrel down at light speed until you crash into the neighbor’s fence.’ It’s so relatable, but it’s also such a creative way of expressing what it’s like to be in his brain. Whenever an artist expresses themselves in their own way, [the audience is] always walking through the grooves of their brain. But when you’re watching Case’s films, it feels like you’re being led through a playground or a safari, and there are these Easter eggs you find every time you watch it. His films are never a one-time watch. They’re such a joy to experience, even when he’s sharing tough times suffering with his relapses with MS.”

In Jernigan’s own words, he described himself to me as a “storyteller at my core” with filmmaking representing the “culmination of my interests” around drawing, writing, and making music. He explained Noggin as coming to be after he received his MS diagnosis and started showing symptoms. He called the film a “coping mechanism,” something to move his hands and arms and “trying to just express myself without thinking too much.” It would be months later that Noggin began to assume a more concrete shape, but its essence, Jernigan reiterated, lies in its role as “[a] pure coping mechanism.”

“The film was made for myself… it was reassurance for myself,” he said.

When asked about what he wanted audiences to get out of Noggin, Jernigan told me his primary aim was “trying to get at that balance between sharing something very personal and very specific to me—the diagnosis and symptoms of a very rare disease—and telling something about that story.” He added through the artistry of the film—the music and movement, et al—he sought to share what he called a “universal poetry” which conveyed the universality of grief and struggle. “These [concepts] are things we have all experienced,” Jernigan said. “That was my goal: to land at that balance.”

Jernigan said Noggin’s aperture widened considerably from its original conceit over time, which he appreciates because its growth coincided with his own healing. His form of MS is most common and known as relapse-remitting. Medication helps, and the experiences varies from person to person, but the Cliff’s Notes version of Jernigan’s type of MS is there are periods of really bad flare-ups followed by periods of healing. As Jernigan’s healing began, his self-described “artistic instincts” began to activate and he could imagine how Noggin might play out and with whom he’d want to share it. Vimeo, he said, was the place he wanted the film to live such that “more people could see it if they were interested.” The company, he added, was “very kind” to award him yet another Staff Pick and thus promote it accordingly so it could broaden its reach.

Vimeo has been “great” to partner with, according to Jernigan. He called the platform the place where he “first fell in love” with independent animation. It was “always a goal” to someday earn a Staff Pick from Oretsky and crew after many films he admired and adored received the virtual thumbs-up from the curation team. All told, Jernigan expressed gratitude for the relationship he’s cultivated with Vimeo, saying the company has been “very good” to him over the years since first getting a Staff Pick.

For her part, Jernigan’s films are so resonant largely due to Oretsky’s personal belief that the medium “has a really powerful and unique ability to hold up a mirror [and show] what it’s like to be a human being and to feel validated and feel more alive as a human and feel like you’re not alone.” Indeed, Jernigan told me he’s heard from many fellow MS copers who express their deepest thanks to him for making Noggin and, to Oretsky’s point, making them see that they aren’t alone on their journeys. Vimeo, Oretsky said, provides a “lower barrier to entry” for people like Jernigan to “share what’s in his heart” with the wider world. The comments section of videos are a microcosm of the emotional aftermath of Jernigan’s films; Oretsky said Vimeo gets countless emails and other correspondence regarding the enduring impact of his work, as well as those like him.

“That’s a really special thing about our platform,” she said.

Jernigan detailed the profundity of the response to the fruits of his labor.

“One of the things I’ve been thinking about lately is several people with MS have reached out and people have said something along the lines of ‘You put something in a physical form—an artistic and musical form—I had thought about for years but didn’t quite know how to express.’ One of those people said there were thoughts she’d been harboring for 30 years… she saw and felt them in the film,” he said of feedback he’s received from people about Noggin. “That kind of comment [and] that kind of message meant the world to me. It meant everything to me because, with the film, I was trying to get at showing what [dealing with multiple sclerosis] was like without being overly singular or too tight. I wanted to make something that was loose and open, but really did show what the anxiety of [having MS] is like and what the pain is like. Hearing from people who have been in my shoes… it was amazing and incredibly humbling to hear.”

Looking towards the future, Jernigan characterized himself as an “ambitious” person and said some of the realities of his MS has forced him to reevaluate what he can feasibly achieve. His plan is to “do everything in my power” to continue making movies as Lon as possible, as the art is “my way of communicating and my way of learning about myself and the world I live in and a way to collaborate with people that I care about.” Moreover, he’s no Nostradamus, so predicting his future is impossible. What is possible is Jernigan listening to his medical team and carrying with him a positive attitude. He conceded some days are better than others, but Jernigan currently relishes being in “a new space where humor and optimism are quite readily available to me,” adding he’s acutely aware of the cyclical nature of his condition and copes best he can.

As to Vimeo, Oretsky’s hopeful to keep doing what she’s doing with her charges on the curation team and especially to keep “elevating stories of people with disabilities.”

Ubisoft Announces New Chroma Colorblindness tool Publicly Available

Video game publishing giant Ubisoft announced on Monday its open-source colorblind simulation tool, called Chroma, is now available to the general public. The announcement was made in a blog post bylined by the company’s Brittany Spurlin.

Ubisoft says an estimated 300 million people worldwide cope with colorblindness. Chroma, Ubisoft notes, is thusly designed to give developers the ability to “accurately replicate their experience and create accessible content to meet their needs.” The tool works by “applying a filter over the game screen without hindering performance.”

According to Spurlin, Chroma’s development began in 2021 when Ubisoft’s quality control team, based in India, sought to create a tool which gave real-time feedback and allowed developers to maintain control the game while simulating colorblindness. Furthermore, Chroma’s so-called Color Oracle algorithm can be used on a single screen or dual screens, as well as supporting hotkeys and featuring a customizable overlay.

“Over the past few years, Chroma has proven to be a highly efficient tool for us at Ubisoft,” David Tisserand, Ubisoft’s director of accessibility, said in a statement included with Ubisoft’s announcement. “It has allowed us to assess the accessibility of our games for colorblind players much faster and more comprehensively than ever before. Because we believe accessibility is a journey, not a race, we’re thrilled to share Chroma with the entire industry. We invite everyone to benefit from it, provide feedback, and contribute to its future development.”

Ubisoft has shared details on Chroma on GitHub.

Today’s news follows the announcement earlier this month from the Entertainment Software Association that Ubisoft, alongside fellow heavyweights Electronic Arts and Nintendo of America, have banded together in a “cross-industry effort” to comprise the new Accessible Games Initiative. The AGI, as it’s colloquially known, is dedicated to “[providing] players with information on accessibility features in video games.”

The New Apple TV+ Sale is a trojan horse to Disability Awareness For every subscriber

Tim Hardwick at MacRumors reported earlier this week about a “limited-time discount” currently in effect on Apple TV+ that sees the price of the nearly 6-year-old streaming video service drop to $3 for three months. The promotion runs through April 24 and is available to what Hardwick described as “new and eligible returning subscribers.”

After the 90 days, Apple TV+ costs $10 per month. It’s included in the Apple One bundle.

Apple’s offer is interesting from an accessibility standpoint in two ways. First, the bargain basement price tag is a great opportunity to access high-quality content with a minimal hit on one’s pocketbook. For budget-conscious buyers, a group of which the vast majority of disabled people are part, the savings (albeit brief) will be welcome if someone is trying to get the most bang from their entertainment’s buck. Moreover, the cost savings mean someone may finally be able to immerse in the cultural zeitgeist with shows such as Severance and Ted Lasso. It has the potential to be a real boon in a social-emotional context, as perhaps a disabled people with limited access to socialization—for health or other reasons—now has an opening to gab with family and friends about, say, the cliffhanger to end the Season 2 finale of Severance. At first blush, this may seem like a trivial thing; the reality is super-popular TV shows like Severance is the type of proverbial water cooler fodder that ostensibly “everyone” talks about, but which isn’t true for literally everyone. That Apple TV+ is inexpensive right now, however briefly, opens the possibility for said conversations to be more inclusive of more people.

Secondly, the $2.99 price point is an unbeatable entryway into what I believe to be the most earnest and genuine portrayal of disability representation in Hollywood today. For those in the disability community, the benefit is obvious: there are multiple pieces of content on TV+ which thrust people who look like them into the limelight. In an industry, and a society, which perpetually infantilizes and pities disabled people as moribund, that shows like See or Best Foot Forward or Little Voice—all shows which have long ceased development yet remain worthy watches—so richly depict disabled people as capable and human as anyone else is truly and profoundly endearing. For people without disabilities, these shows offer chances to see disabled people do cool stuff like, the case of See, Blind people being badasses in kicking ass. It stands in stark contrast to the typical inspiration porn disabled people are subject to feature in; we deserve to be the lead story instead of relegated to being the last one on many nightly newscasts.

I love Severance as much as the next person—and I was overjoyed this morning to learn The Morning Show returns this summer—but nonetheless love Apple TV+ largely due to the representational gains I reap from it. It means the world to me, as it is reaffirming of Apple’s institutional ethos on the accessibility and inclusivity of its computers. It isn’t an empty bromide. It isn’t pandering or performative. The company’s commitment to disability inclusion in Hollywood is as ironclad as its commitment to disability inclusion in its myriad software platforms. In terms of its entertainment arm, Apple is deserving of more adoration vis-a-vis TV+ for pushing societal justice and diversity forward. CODA, as another example, is so much more than “a sweet little movie.” Indeed, the film’s representational significance and critical acclaim are inextricably tied. That ought to be recognized by the mainstream critics who staff Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.

Apple TV+ is assuredly much more, praise Kier, than simply the Severance Network.

Google’s April Pixel Drop Shows how AI Can Be more Transformative than trivial pursuit

As reported by 9to5 Google’s Abner Li, Google this week released its monthly Pixel Drop for Android. April’s edition brings with it but one lone feature: Gemini Live’s new Astra camera. Li writes the functionality is now available to all Pixel 9 phones, free of charge.

The “Astra” name refers to Project Astra, a DeepMind initiative from Google characterized by the Bay Area-based tech titan as “a research prototype exploring future capabilities of a universal AI assistant.” On its website, Astra is touted as helping people “explore [their] world like never before,” which is precisely what Gemini Live’s newfound camera is purported to do. To wit, after installing the software update, users will have gained the ability to point their camera at anything in the real world and have a conversation about it. In a brief video posted to YouTube (embedded below), Google demonstrates the Astra camera’s functionality by showing a person asking Gemini to assist with choosing between color options for their newly-glazed piece of pottery.

The notion that artificial intelligence can help people “explore the world” has deep resonance to accessibility, particularly to those in the Blind and low vision community. That a Blind Android user, for instance, could point their Pixel 9 device at some object—say, a street sign—and have it described to them has enormous potential to help make getting around one’s neighborhood more accessible—which, in turn, engenders heightened feelings of self-esteem and independence. Likewise, the Astra camera could be used in the kitchen at home, where a Blind or low vision person could create a makeshift Be My Eyes experience by pointing their phone at a carton of milk and asking about the expiration date on the label. These scenarios, both ostensibly ho-hum aspects of everyday life, are made eminently more significant by technology; whereas typically most, if not all, people with blindness or low vision need assistance to keep tabs on the milk in the refrigerator, they now can do so with agency and autonomy with the help of Gemini Live on their phone. That isn’t at all trivial, especially considering the prevailing—arguably ableist—perception societally that disabled people are rather hapless and helpless in our ability to function with any standard sense of normalcy.

Spiritually speaking, the Astra camera isn’t dissimilar to Apple’s Visual Intelligence on the 2023 iPhone 15 Pro and last year’s iPhone 16 lineup. In fact, the basic conceit is exactly the same: point your phone’s camera at something and the virtual assistant tells you about it. (Also highly similar are the myriad Detection Modes found within the Magnifier app on iOS.) How performant one is versus the other is largely immaterial in an accessibility context, as both are shining examples of the genuine good AI can do for the world. Tech companies, whether Apple or Google, like to hawk their AI-powered wares to the mainstream as conduits towards convenience. Though it is true something like the Astra camera indeed is convenient, its accessibility merit ought to be celebrated with more revelry. Whether Astra or Visual Intelligence, people choose whichever fits them best; the salient point is simply these technologies can be as transformative and life-altering for some as they are bleeding-edge and fun for others.

Finally, a few cursory thoughts on Google Gemini. A recent spate of sponsorships on one of my favorite nerdy podcasts pushed me to install the Gemini app on my iPhone and try it out. The app supplanted ChatGPT on my Home Screen, which I’d heretofore been using for my generative AI needs. It’s been a little over a month since switching to Gemini and I gotta say: I really like it. In terms of performance and acumen, Gemini seems to stand toe-to-toe with ChatGPT; I’ve noticed some errors and hallucinations, but Gemini mostly gives me what I want from it. It also helps that, as far as UI design is concerned, I’ve come to prefer Gemini over ChatGPT. Whereas ChatGPT feels staid and utilitarian, Gemini feels more “human” and whimsical in terms of its design. Pragmatically, Gemini has taken over much of the grunt work from Google Search in Safari in my usage. I find it easier to give Gemini a question or command, then use the in-app browser if I want to dive deeper. It feels much more accessible than using the browser and scanning through umpteenth search results—which, from a disability standpoint, exerts good amounts of energies in terms of vision and fine-motor skills.

My close friend Joanna Stern at the WSJ has similar feelings, writing in a recent column that she isn’t “going back” to the tried-and-true Google Search mechanics after using a slew of popular AI agents in testing. Stern’s lede says it all: “Somewhere out there, Jeeves is raising his teacup to the AI revolution.” Jeeves, as she notes, was the ‘90s-era ancestor to products like Google Search, Gemini, and more. Jeeves was limited in its capacity, Stern goes on to say, with the current crop of AI-driven assistants actually fulfilling the promise espoused by their ancestral digital butler. Stern’s focus isn’t accessibility—although we’ve talked a lot about it over the years—but her experiences underscore my aforementioned point about AI being more than sheer amenity or a vehicle in pursuit of trivia. As I said, to use, for instance, Gemini—whether the app on Astra camera—can prove far more accessible when conducting research. It’s a sentiment Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie has shared with me at length numerous times. It’s better for her teenaged daughter, who’s neurodivergent, to use the ChatGPT-charged Bing to assist with essay research than use Bing in the more traditional fashion. Again, not an insignificant development for AI or disabled people.

But back to this month’s Pixel Drop. Of particular import, Li reported the Astra camera feature is not tied to the Gemini Advanced subscription service. Instead, the software is tied to Pixel devices themselves. This means Astra camera will remain available to users a de-facto accessibility feature in perpetuity regardless of their subscriber status.

Apple TV app for Android Gains support for Enhanced Caption Behaviors in new Update

Abner Li reported for 9to5 Google today about the recently-released Apple TV app for Android getting an update to version 1.1, which brings with it a couple clearly newsworthy features relevant to accessibility. To wit, Apple has added support for subtitles captions to automatically appear on screen when the TV’s volume is either muted or turned all the way down, as well as when a user rewinds playback 30 seconds.

As Li writes, both features have been stalwarts on Apple’s tvOS platform for years.

How this seemingly mundane app update is pertinent to accessibility manifests in two ways. First, that captioning shows up when the device’s volume is off makes perfect sense in an accessibility context. Without them, dialogue or music would be inaccessible. Likewise, the same effect when skipping back 30 seconds—a feature Li rightly notes is damned clever—makes dialogue accessible insofar as perhaps someone’s hearing, for example, couldn’t pick up on someone’s accent and/or whisper the first time through a scene. Put together, both pieces of functionality act as de-facto accessibility features: not expressly designed for disabled people, but nevertheless an accessibility aid to anyone who needs, in this case, captions for whatever reason(s).

Lastly, here’s another primer on the (albeit subtle yet meaningful) difference between captions. It’s a topic I’ve brought up before because, admittedly, it’s like nails on a chalkboard for me whenever I see the terms being used interchangeably. In the simplest terms, captions are for disability, whereas subtitles are for language. Captions make the spoken word accessible to those who are Deaf and/or hard-of-hearing; subtitles, on the other hand, make foreign languages more accessible to non-speakers. While it’s undoubtedly true both features do effectively the same job—flash words on the screen in an effort to maximize comprehension—the truth is they both are bespoke concepts that exist for different reasons. You may think I’m being a pesky-ass pedant, and maybe I am to some degree, but bear with me. Take CODA on Apple TV+ for instance. The entirety of the movie is subtitled under the rightful assumption not everyone who watches it speaks American Sign Language. Thus, the subtitles exist to accommodate for the “disability” of not speaking ASL. As a real-life CODA myself, I’ve watched the film many times and never need the subtitles because I can speak fluent ASL. I’m a rare breed, but therein lies the distinction. Captions help those who can’t hear, whereas subtitles help those who didn’t grow up using ASL as their native tongue.

Apple announced the Apple TV app (finally) arriving on Android back in February.

The HHS Layoffs Accentuate the precarity of Disability And the Antipathy of accessibility

NPR’s Joseph Shapiro reported last week about the layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) having collateral damage. Namely, not only are employees losing their jobs, but the federal agency is slashing labor on major programs such as Meals on Wheels. As the headline on Shapiro’s story makes clear, programs like Meals on Wheels is a lifeline for millions of senior citizens and disabled people in this country.

“At least 40% of staff got layoff notices and many were turned away at the front door Tuesday when they showed up for work at the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, which coordinates federal policy on aging and disability. That’s according to the agency’s former director under the Biden Administration, Alison Barkoff, who says she talked to multiple members of her former staff,” Shapiro wrote of the recent job cuts at HHS. “The agency funds programs that run senior centers and distribute 216 million meals a year to older and disabled people through the Meals on Wheels program.”

Similar to how oversight of special education services will (purportedly) be redirected once the Department of Education is fully dismantled, Shapiro notes Project 2025 recommends the aforementioned Administration for Community Living take up the task of overseeing programs such as Meals on Wheels. However explicitly unstated, the moves carry a strong undercurrent of President Trump and his acolytes running the government not giving a whit about Americans on the margins. The disability community in particular has forever existed at the margin’s margin; given what it took for us to secure our rights in the first place, these earliest days of Trump’s second term are as frightening—and soberingly reaffirming—as they are crazy and chaotic. The reality is programs such as Meals on Wheels is bonafide accessibility, albeit analog, because not every elderly person or disabled person can get out to the supermarket to buy groceries, then carry them home and prepare meals. My grandmother used Meals on Wheels for about a year before she died from complications of dementia in early 2007. She was unable to chew solids anymore by that point in her life, so her meals came to the house helpfully puréed such that all my uncle and I needed to do was feed her. It was accessibility in more ways than one: first and foremost, it obviously afforded her basic daily sustenance, but it also alleviated some of the caregiving load from us.

Call it fatalistic thinking, but the undoing of things like the Department of Education or, in this case, the Meals on Wheels program, provides the slipperiest of slopes to more dramatic and sinister action later. Even dating back to Trump’s first term, I’ve believed he and his cronies would take steps to repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act and thus institutionalize us were it possible and politically expedient. The White House clearly believes in flouting the law, so it wouldn’t surprise me one iota if they tried to weasel rationale for pulling back crucial protections for people like me—those who ostensibly provide the least value to the economy and to society. In other words, today’s Republicans aren’t the George H.W. Bush variety conservatives by a long shot.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 is giving this casual gamer serious cause to Assess accessibility

Consider this post complementary to the previous one published earlier today.

Earlier this week, Nintendo announced the hotly-anticipated Switch 2. The hybrid console, the progeny of the original model from 2017, costs $449 and is expected to ship on June 5. The Verge’s Ash Parrish posted a great rundown of the device’s details, particularly its nerdy and nitty-gritty technical specifications. To wit, Nintendo says the Switch 2 has a 7.9-inch LCD screen running at 1080p resolution and supports HDR10 and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Moreover, the Joy-Con controllers have mouse-like functionality alongside 256GB of storage and a dock capable of outputting 4K video.

As someone who’s admittedly a decidedly casual gamer—albeit with three consoles: a PS5, Xbox Series S, and Mega Sg—I’ve long been curious by the Switch given its modularity and immense popularity amongst gamers and tech nerds. An OLED Switch has sat in my Amazon cart since time immemorial in part because (a) casual gamer; and (b) I wonder about the console’s accessibility. To that point, I posted on Mastodon a few days ago earnestly asking why Nintendo chose to ship the ostensibly newer and technically superior Switch 2 with a standard LCD display. Conventional wisdom dictates Nintendo would opt for OLED in the Switch 2, particularly given the company literally made a bespoke version of the original with that very display technology. But Nintendo clearly bucked convention, as IGN’s Wesley Yin-Poole reported this week the company decided to use LCD “after a lot of consideration.” Poole’s story includes comment from Tetsuya Sasaki, who serves as Nintendo’s GM of its technology development division and as senior director of its technology development department, who said in part “we took a look at the technology that was available to us now” and there’s been “a lot of advancements that have been made in LCD technology.” Sasaki’s rationale notwithstanding, it surprised and disappointed me to learn the Switch 2 omits OLED—a choice more bewildering considering my thoughts regarding fellow Japanese giant Sony’s refreshed TV lineup for 2025, also announced to much fanfare this week.

And rubbing even more salt into the proverbial wound is this post on X today from my sister from another mister in Kathryn Watson of CBS News wherein she links to a report that the April 9 date for pre-orders is being pushed back due to what Nintendo called “the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.” The company promises to give a further update on a new pre-order date “soon,” according to CBS News. This is even more confirmation President Trump’s terrible tariffs make zero sense whatsoever.

The Verge’s Sheena Vasani and Brandon Widder wrote a good explainer on pre-orders..

Anyway, back to accessibility. Nintendo’s big reveal of the Switch 2 this week has me oscillating whether I should try the new one or, in another nod to my casualness, opt for the original OLED edition. Whichever system I end up with, it’ll be a monumental decision insofar as it’s been over three decades since I played with a Nintendo system. Considering that timeframe, I’m keenly interested to see just how far accessibility in video games has progressed in 30 years. And given Nintendo is involved in the Entertainment Software Association’s new Accessible Games Initiative, it’s thus highly logical to presume the Switch 2 builds on the accessibility attributes of its predecessor.

Inside the eSA’s new ‘Common language’ for conveying accessibility in video games

Late last month, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) published a press release in which it announced the formation of the Accessible Games Initiative. The Washington DC-based organization touted the so-called AGI was created in a concerted effort to “provide players with information on accessibility features in video games,” adding the Initiative is a “cross-industry effort.” The AGI’s members are a veritable who’s who of gaming heavyweights, including Electronic Arts, Nintendo of America, Ubisoft, as well as captains of the tech industry in Google and Microsoft.

Almost 191 million Americans “play video games regularly,” according to the ESA.

“The primary purpose of the new Accessible Games Initiative is to help provide clear information about whether a specific video game has accessibility features and, if so, what those features are,” the ESA wrote in its announcement. “The initiative is launching with a set of 24 ‘tags,’ all with clear criteria about what each tag means. Sample tags include: clear text, large and clear subtitles, narrated menus, stick inversion and save anytime, among others. Over time, participating companies will place the Accessible Games Initiative tags near their game product information—for example on digital storefronts, product pages, or digital catalogues. This can help provide players and other consumers, such as parents and teachers, with clear information about which features are in any given game before they make a purchase.”

In his own statement for the press release, ESA president and chief executive officer Stanley Pierre-Louis said in part the organization is “proud” to be shepherding the AGI while also saying it “demonstrates how impactful we can be when we work together in our industry-wide pursuit of helping more people experience the power of play.”

In an interview with me conducted via email earlier this week, ESA senior vice president Aubrey Quinn reiterated the language in the press release regarding the organization’s mission to “improve players’ gameplay experiences by providing consumers with clear information about the accessibility features available in specific video games” and added the use of the new tags is strictly voluntary. When asked what inspired the creation of the AGI, Quinn explained that although tens of millions of Americans cope with some sort of disability, there heretofore hasn’t been a “common language” which communicates the accessibleness of the games people play. Different platforms, she told me, have different interpretations of what, say, Large Text, really means in practice.

“Before the Accessible Games Initiative, the burden was on players to interpret existing tags in the marketplace from platform to platform, game to game. We hope to change that,” Quinn said of the driving force behind the AGI’s formation. “This new initiative is meant to help consumers identify specific accessibility features in individual video games, so that players buying games can make better informed purchasing decisions. Having a clear approach to identify accessibility features across different games, with criteria behind each accessibility tag, will provide consumers with information about the accessibility features they can find in games prior to purchasing them.”

In looking at the video game industry from a bird’s eye view vis-a-vis accessibility, Quinn told me the AGI is cognizant of the notion that “no one feature, initiative, or accessory is going to solve every accessibility challenge for every person.” Moreover, she said the AGI exists as but “one piece of the puzzle,” noting the industry writ large has made “significant advancements over the years” towards the betterment of more accessible and inclusive gaming. As with all things disability inclusion, Quinn and team are aware accessibility is an evergreen endeavor and thus “there is always more progress to make.” Indeed, accessibility is never-ending and a forever function.

“We know that companies across the industry are working day in and day out to improve the gameplay experience for players with disabilities,” Quinn said.

Quinn keenly emphasized the founding bodies of the newfound AGI thought it imperative that no one entity actually “owned” the accessibility tags. By contrast, the AGI members staunchly believe the tags will prove successful only if they’re embraced by the industry as a collective as opposed to an individual company. According to Quinn, it’s the ESA’s hope the tags will “encourage companies and developers to not only more frequently and easily identify the accessibility features in their games, but also look at the developer criteria and consider accessibility features they can build into their games from the start.” For transparency’s sake, it ought to be mentioned the AGI is overseen by the ESA. The organization described itself in its announcement as “the trade association representing the [United States] video game industry.”

Feedback-wise, Quinn said the early reception to the AGI has been “overwhelmingly positive” and noted the group is looking forward to seeing the tags begin being implemented. As critique comes in, and as new technologies emerge, Quinn said the AGI will respond accordingly by adapting, evolving, and adding new tags as necessary.

As to the future, Quinn said “everyone is invited to join us” in the AGI’s mission to make video games more accessible to all. She reemphasized her earlier point that, however elective, it’s the AGI’s hope the tags will be “widely implemented across the industry” while stressing a company needn’t be an codified AGI member in order to use them.

“The more companies, developers and storefronts use them, the more players will benefit,” Quinn said. “We also hope that players, developers and advocates alike provide us with feedback on the tags and how they are working for them.”

The full list of tags (plus more information) can be found on the AGI’s website.

Sony’s 2025 TV Lineup Reminds Image Accuracy shouldn’t Trump accessibility

Sony this week unveiled its refreshed line of Bravia televisions and soundbars for 2025. The Verge’s Sam Byford posted a good rundown of the new products. Of particular import, Sony announced the successor to its “King of TVs” in the widely acclaimed A95L OLED, on the market since 2023, with the Bravia 8 Mark II. The new model features a QD-OLED panel like the A95L and comes in 55- and 65-inch sizes, according to Byford’s report. He includes comment from Yosuke Nakano, who works on Sony’s product planning team, who proclaimed the forthcoming Bravia 8 Mark II features the “most faithful reproduction of the professional monitor look of any TV in the industry.”

No word yet on pricing, but Byford notes release will come “sometime this spring.”

I watched Sony’s introductory video for its new home theater products on YouTube last night. It’s a good watch, and struck me as extremely Apple-like in its production value and overall presentation. Like Apple, Sony seems extremely proud of its engineering prowess involving its custom silicon and panel technology for its TVs. And also like Apple, Sony’s TVs—particularly premium models like the A95L and Bravia 9—command a pretty penny, price-wise. There are ways in which Sony is technically superior to the competition, but what the company’s fans pay top dollar for is the user experience.

As an avowed home theater nerd, I have to admit I’ve never used a Sony television or soundbar in my life. In the same way Apple’s Pro Display XDR is my white whale desk monitor, the A95L (or 85” mini-LED Bravia 9) is my white whale TV. The Bravia 9 is especially fascinating because it gets damn close to OLED-level picture quality with great contrast and inky blacks all the while being bright enough to burn Icarus and in a larger-than-life size. The nerdy and disabled parts of me really wants to try this stuff.

Im the last few months, I’ve had two OLED TVs sent my way: the 48-inch LG B4 and the 77-inch LG C3. Both replaced TCL models in my office and in our living room, respectively. The larger C3 is wall-mounted and supplants the mini-LED 2020 6-Series which was itself widely praised. I watched the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl rematch on the new C3 and it was a real treat for my eyes. It was so good, in fact, that it ultimately sold me on this idea: OLED on TVs is to what the Retina display was on iPhone 4. What Steve Jobs said about the latter in 2010 applies to OLED: “Once you go Retina,” he said, “you can’t go back.” It’s so true; while I’ve used OLED on my iPhone and Apple Watch for years, not to mention the M4 iPad Pro I got for my birthday last September, having OLED on such large screens is an entirely different experience. I don’t think I could go back to ostensibly “lesser” display technology. With the exception of brightness—more on that in a minute—the picture quality of an OLED television is unparalleled, in my opinion. A major reason for this, of course, is the aforementioned contrast and perfect blacks thanks to the pixel-level control. That’s beyond even the beastly Bravia 9’s ken.

Which brings me back to Sony’s new lineup of TVs. Part of the reverence for Sony’s TVs amongst reviewers and A/V enthusiasts is that reference standard—Sony’s a master at achieving cinematic looks with a heavy emphasis on accuracy and preserving creative intent. If you like filmmaking as art, then Sony’s TVs are right up your alley. I can empathize with those sentiments because I personally do philosophically believe TV and filmmaking is an art form. As a practical matter, however, therein lies the tension. Despite reviewers’ incessant proclivity to focus on accuracy when evaluating TVs, whether Sony’s, LG’s, or anyone else’s, the problem is accuracy is prioritized at the expense of accessibility. As someone with extremely low vision, the more “accurate” picture modes and settings are way too dim and dull for my needs. Likewise, it’s a popular refrain amongst reviewers and Reddit goers to lambast Vivid picture mode because everything is juiced up to the max and thus wildly inaccurate. What this criticism fails to consider is choosing Vivid mode isn’t merely a matter of preference; it’s a matter of necessity. The reality is, I need the image on my TVs juiced up to the max in order to get any semblance of joy from them. From an intellectual standpoint, I acknowledge the downsides in terms of accuracy and fidelity—but accuracy doesn’t do shit for me if the imagery is inaccessible in the first place. And, frankly, I have neither the time nor patience to calibrate my TV or hire a calibrator. The purists of the world may recoil in horror. The fact is, for me, accessibility matters way more than accuracy does.

In a similar vein, accessibility is why I set my iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to max brightness and turn off auto-brightness. Like accuracy in TVs, the casualty on my mobile devices is battery life. But… it’s a tradeoff I must make in the name of usability.

Granted, nobody’s going to take a battering ram to my front door and arrest me for assault against television kind. The salient point is, as with everything else within tech journalism, accessibility is a sorely undervalued and unappreciated use case. Accuracy is all empirically well and good, but there’s little context behind it. By contrast, to value accessibility is to know what truly matters is disabled people feeling included in watching content as opposed to feeling excluded because the subject matter experts clutch their pearls over accuracy. What I’m saying is, accuracy shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all in modern television reviews. There’s more to a TV’s story than sheer accuracy.

The moral? Once again, advocacy of the disability community is downright Sisyphean.

How the nBA’s Sacramento Kings Make home games more accessible to every fan

Back in November, I posted a story to my dearly departed Forbes column in which I posited Apple Vision Pro has the potential to be even more accessible by improving the accessibility of live sporting events for Blind and low vision people. The impetus for my piece was news from 9to5 Mac’s Ryan Christoffel that Apple was in talks with Spanish soccer club Real Madrid to trick out the team’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium with cameras capable of streaming Apple Immersive Video for visionOS. As Christoffel explained, the inspiration for the collaboration was literal accessibility: Real Madrid’s home was at capacity with its regular sellouts and thus couldn’t accommodate more fans to attend matches. The idea, then, was the deep immersion of Vision Pro could enable fans who couldn’t physically be at the venue to virtually feel like they are there.

My two loves—sports and technology—converge. You see, as a lifelong sports fan who happens to be a lifelong disabled person, attending sporting events in person has always been a bittersweet experience. On one hand, the ambient experience of being at the ballpark or arena or stadium is super fun because… sports! On the other hand, however, people ultimately shell out big bucks for tickets to, you know, actually watch the game(s). As someone with extremely low vision, the problem with this dichotomy is obvious—which side of me do I indulge? More often than not, like in March of last year when in Las Vegas to watch the Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament, my closest cousins Jenn and her wife effectively had to text me play-by-play so I knew who was on the floor and what was going on. They also came to my (accessible) seat during halftime to check on me and ensure I was enjoying the festivities. Overall, it was a fun time; I did it a couple months later for a Bay FC home game down at San Jose’s PayPal Park—which, coincidentally, featured Nigeria-born Asisat Oshoala. The problem is, I don’t want the people I love feeling burdened by keeping me in the loop when at live events.

Enter OneCourt and its tactile tablet device.

On its website, the company boasts it’s enabling “the first tactile sports broadcast [by] transforming gameplay into trackable vibrations so fans with visual disabilities can watch the game with their fingertips.” According to OneCourt, 250 million people the world over “can experience sports intuitively and independently.” OneCourt notes it has received grants and awards from Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility Program, the University of Washington, National Science Foundation, and more. Additionally, OneCourt says it’s working “closely” with T-Mobile’s Tech Experience 5G Hub in an effort to “deliver a low-latency experiences in stadiums” for people with disabilities.

OneCourt’s tablet display features haptic feedback that allow Blind and low vision people to track the game(s) in real-time by way of audio and tactile vibrations. The software translates live gameplay into spatial feedback, giving a Blind or low vision person the ability to “watch” the game with only their fingertips. OneCourt worked closely with the NBA to ensure the immediacy of the experience, as the tablet is unhampered by the latency encountered by conventional radio broadcasts. OneCourt’s tech ensures an accurate, real-time depiction of the action happening on the floor.

Speaking of the NBA, the league’s Sacramento Kings—alongside their neighbors 579 miles north in the Portland Trail Blazers—have partnered with OneCourt and Ticketmaster to provide the former’s device free of charge to Blind and low vision fans who visit Golden 1 Center for a Kings’ home game. The partnership speaks to the organization’s ethos around inclusivity and enhancing the game experience for fans.

Put another way, the Kings’ rallying cry of “Light the beam!” is meant for every fan.

“The Sacramento Kings are committed to making live sports more inclusive, and our partnership with OneCourt and Ticketmaster is a major step forward,” the team said in a brief statement provided to me over email earlier this week. “This groundbreaking haptic technology allows Blind and Low Vision fans to experience the energy of the game in real-time through spatial vibrations and audio feedback. By providing these devices at Golden 1 Center, we’re reinforcing our dedication to accessibility and ensuring that all fans can engage with the excitement on the court.”

Yet despite the significance of the OneCourt device, it isn’t the Kings’ one and only nod to accessibility. Like the Pittsburgh International Airport, the organization has outfitted its arena with California’s first-ever sensory room in a sports setting. The room is festooned with texturized walls, soothing ambient sounds, specialized furniture, and more designed for those with autism and other neurodivergent people. What’s more, the Kings’ sensory room is welcome to anyone who needs a break—catering to those with dementia, PTSD, and like me, high anxiety. Additionally, the Kings offer so-called sensory kits consisting of noise-cancelling headphones, verbal cue cards, and more. Game-goers are able to check out the kits at Golden 1’s Guest Services Station, located at Sections 109 and 207. The room was developed in collaboration with KultureCity.

Netflix announces ‘More Multilingual’ Experience to improve accessibility On TVs

It may not seem so in the classical sense, but multilingualism is accessibility too.

It’s the reason subtitles exist. And no, subtitles and captions aren’t the same thing.

In the spirit of making Netflix more accessible, the company on Wednesday announced subscribers now have the ability to choose from the “full list” of more than 30 languages when watching content in its TV apps. Netflix says the functionality is “much-anticipated,” noting it receives “thousands” of localization requests a month from customers. The more robust language support on TVs means Netflix has reached feature parity, as the options have been available on mobile and the Netflix website. One of its most popular shows of all-time, Netflix said, is the Korean drama Squid Game.

“As more of our members enjoy shows and films from around the world—nearly a third of all viewing on Netflix is for non-English stories—subtitles and dubbing are more important than ever,” Netflix said of its language expansion in today’s announcement. "Our catalog includes a wide variety of TV shows and movies in over 30 languages, from critically acclaimed films to binge-worthy series, which lets our members immerse themselves in different cultures and languages from around the globe.”

As enormous and entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist Netflix is now, relatively few may realize the company cares a lot about accessibility. I’ve covered Netflix’s action in this arena at close range over the last few years; my reporting has included interviews with its director of product accessibility Heather Dowdy. She’s a trailblazer insofar as she’s the company’s first-ever executive in such a role. Dowdy is, like yours truly, a CODA.

Apple’s Accessibility Legacy Profiled On the latest ‘Twenty Thousand Hertz’ Podcast

Here’s a tidbit of (admittedly esoteric) tech trivia: Apple has worked on accessibility for 40 years. In fact, the voice the original Macintosh used to introduce itself in 1984 was powered by the Mac’s very first text-to-speech engine, cheekily known as MacinTalk.

An accessibility feature ushered one of the most seminal devices in computing history.

I was not even 3 years old when the Macintosh debuted. I was 4 when Apple’s accessibility department was born in 1985. How do I know these events if I were too young to remember them? It isn’t thanks to Wikipedia—it’s the Twenty Thousand Hertz podcast! The show, hosted by Dallas Taylor and described as “a lovingly crafted podcast about the sonic world for all ages [that’s an] upbeat, inclusive celebration of sound, covering everything from pop culture, to science, to history and beyond.” The latest episode is all about Apple and accessibility, particularly the innovations the company has created around audio and sound. A newsworthy mention on the podcast is the hearing aid feature in AirPods Pro that, alongside Apple Intelligence, was delivered to customers with last October’s much-ballyhooed release of iOS 18.1. Taylor’s narration is interspersed with interviews with Apple’s Sarah Herrlinger, Deidre Caldbeck, Ron Huang, and Eric Treski. CEO Tim Cook can also be heard in the episode.

I interviewed Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of global accessibility policy and initiatives, back in December. She talked to me all about the aforementioned AirPods hearing health features, fittingly noting Apple has worked on hearing-oriented accessibility software “for decades.” She added accessibility, be it hearing or something else, is deeply ingrained in “everything we do” at the company because disability is part and parcel of the human experience. To that end, she said, the company wants its products to be accessible usable by everyone. This ethos goes a long way in explaining why Apple’s accessibility features are renowned in the industry for their unparalleled breadth and depth. It’s this purposeful acknowledgment of, and commitment to, such a diverse set of needs that make Apple Secretariat at the Belmont in the eyes of many in the disability community, as well as other accessibility aesthetes.

Beyond Apple, it’s worth noting the episode begins with a cursory look at how accessibility features have influenced history. Audiobooks, for example, are mainstream nowadays and immensely popular. Yet audiobooks were originally conceived to meet the needs of Blind people who couldn’t read the printed word. The anecdote reminds of my interview last year with disability activist Dr. Victor Pineda. He told me in part disabled people are technologists and accessibility is an incubator for innovation. His website makes that notion even more abundantly clear, saying in a really big font “inclusion is not just a buzzword; it is the very essence of innovation.”

The Twenty Thousand Hertz episode with Herrlinger can be found on Apple Podcasts.