Apple has been pretty outspoken about bringing coding classes to everyone — and that most assuredly includes the deaf and blind communities, too.
Timed to coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Apple has revealed that it is making it easier for students with vision, hearing or other assistive needs to take part in its Everyone Can Code curricula for Swift.
“Apple’s mission is to make products as accessible as possible,” said Tim Cook. “We created Everyone Can Code because we believe all students deserve an opportunity to learn the language of technology. We hope to bring Everyone Can Code to even more schools around the world serving students with disabilities.”
Apple is celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day by making coding more inclusive for students across the country. Because when we say Everyone Can Code, we mean everyone. #GAAD https://t.co/Ew16JtxzJh
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 17, 2018
As such, Apple has created a range of assistive aids for schools with blind and deaf students wanting to teach Swift. This will include features like Apple’s screen-reading technology VoiceOver as well as Switch Control, which enables different input devices to be used to control what happens on screen.
Opening up its curriculum
Most significantly, Apple is expanding the course to a variety of schools serving blind and deaf students in the U.S. These include:
- California School for the Blind (Fremont, CA)
- California School for the Deaf (Fremont, CA)
- District 75/Citywide Programs, New York City Department of Education (New York, NY)
- Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (St. Augustine, FL)
- Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Winetka, IL)
- Perkins School for the Blind (Watertown, MA)
- Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Austin, TX)
- Texas School for the Deaf (Austin, TX)
Apple will also be hosting accessibility-themed events around the world at Apple Stores. Since 2017, Apple has held over 10,000 accessibility sessions across the globe. Good for Apple!
