It got expensive, and limited by software.
The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What does that mean? I assume it's a complaint about how iOS devices are computing appliances - they're much less open than the PCs that they've come after. From my point of view, I'm extremely glad that they're computing appliances and mostly locked down. The younger people here probably have never had the "pleasure" of removing 568 "helpful" toolbars from IE6. For people who just want to use a few applications, a…
Again, these ideals don't have to be mutually exclusive. Apple has made successful and secure platforms before with both an App Store and an external packaging system - they just don't bring that philosophy to the iPhone for profitability reasons. Once the EU enforces their external app store policy, you won't be forced into using non-Apple software. You can still continue using your iPhone exactly the way you do tod…
... Or unless you have family members likely to install and pay for scams.
I'm ambivalent about the EU regulations. But it'll be interesting to see what happens, and whether consoles are next, and what that means.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The iPad was meant to de-revolutionize general purpose computing. What does that mean?
> What does that mean? I assume it's a complaint about how iOS devices are computing appliances - they're much less open than the PCs that they've come after. From my point of view, I'm extremely glad that they're computing appliances and mostly locked down. The younger people here probably have never had the "pleasure" of removing 568 "helpful" toolbars from IE6. For people who just want to use a few applications, a…
Some equivalent can also happen on iOS, I had to remove some calendar-based notification virus on my sisters phone.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#24I develop iPad accessibility software for people who have dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, etc. The iPad is a godsend. The large screen couples well with easy-grip shock-resistant spill-proof cases and attachments. My wishlist for accessibility: louder speaker (as the article mentions), and accessibility settings for a simplified patient-mode UI/UX versus a full-featured caregiver-mode. For example, zero-visib…
My father is 84 with cognitive degeneration. He’s used an iPhone for years but is stuck on an old one with the home button purely because we don’t think he’ll transition to swiping up. His short term memory is shot, learning new behaviors is tough, and his fine motor skills aren’t great. Some of the adaptive settings help, but the home button is so easy. Could someone not build the case you mention (shock, spill proo…
I feel for you on this.
I kept a PC working for my Dad the hard way for years. Luckily when his previous email client became unworkable and confusing we managed to switch him to google mail (which I could more easily help with remotely) and he could be talked through the TeamViewer settings. He carried on using that for several years, delighted to be able to email people, until his interest in using the PC began to drift as he got to 90, mostly I think because it became more difficult for him to read (it is amazing how much the eye's transmission of/sensitivity to light changing over time makes interfaces more difficult or can even make them seem "new", and that is when the interfaces were not changing or doing unpredictable things).
But we never managed to really get him to use a mobile phone. He could do that only fitfully despite some great device designs, and he would reject them quickly. He would forget to charge them, lose the chargers etc., and sometimes would confuse charge and signal strength, or assume he had to switch off the phone to save money.
He would likely know how to use a mobile in an emergency, but of course the day he first wandered off and completely disappeared for hours, he didn't think that was an emergency at all!
As another poster says, I would take this opportunity to upgrade to the last SE with a button while you can. There's a very good chance his muscle-memory skills will translate just fine, but I suspect you are right about swiping up.
FWIW I think swipes starting "beyond the screen", as the Palm guys used to say, is a bad design. I think the number of top-down swipes in iPadOS is confusing and annoying, and I'm not that much more than half the age my dad reached.
I wish you the best in continuing to support this sort of stuff for as long as your father needs it -- keeping someone able to use technology is not just a "nice to have", it's a connection to the modern world that means a lot.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#25It may not have revolutionized the accessibility market, but it definitely has evolved it.
There’s tons of built in accessibility features(https://www.apple.com/ca/accessibility/) and more coming in the new OS (https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2023/05/apple-previews-liv...). It’s also simplified a lot of accessibility development for third party providers.
So I think anyone expecting a revolution was setting their expectations up for failure.
Though I think the title and initial premise of the article are selling the actual issue short. There is definitely a lack of financially accessible and intuitive accessibility software for their daughter's needs and others like her.
It’s definitely an area that could see more general solutions appear, and I wish the description of what they need wasn’t buried so far down the page because the actual problem at hand is very interesting.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What does that mean? I assume it's a complaint about how iOS devices are computing appliances - they're much less open than the PCs that they've come after. From my point of view, I'm extremely glad that they're computing appliances and mostly locked down. The younger people here probably have never had the "pleasure" of removing 568 "helpful" toolbars from IE6. For people who just want to use a few applications, a…
Again, these ideals don't have to be mutually exclusive. Apple has made successful and secure platforms before with both an App Store and an external packaging system - they just don't bring that philosophy to the iPhone for profitability reasons. Once the EU enforces their external app store policy, you won't be forced into using non-Apple software. You can still continue using your iPhone exactly the way you do tod…
> You can still continue using your iPhone exactly the way you do today, with the option of letting it do more if you ever wanted.
Until publishers decide to launch their own app store and remove games from the app store, forcing me to create accounts and store payment details with them.
Then, poeple like me who explicitly purchased apple devices because this is a feature, are forced to have a "choice" between install the app and the store of their proviser, or no app. That's a lose in my book.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both Jef Raskin and Steve Jobs always intended the Mac to be unexpandable (except via serial and parallel ports). Jobs had long wanted devices that the end-user could not upgrade. Well, he got them with the iPhone and iPad. Jobs never really wanted "general purpose computing". He wanted computing that he controlled from the top down.
It's funny though that the Apple Lisa -- the amazing computer that Jobs worked his ass off to copy parts of and then get killed (after they kicked him off the project) -- was actually far more locked down than the Mac, which Jobs was more involved in. The Mac was more of a general purpose computer, though obviously more locked down than the DOS & CP/M type & home computer type machines it was contemporary with. And t…
I don’t think it factored in much to his thinking beyond market acceptance. The mass market mostly didn’t seem to care much about accessibility. Special purpose users do, but that’s a smaller market. I think for Steve Jobs the point was beauty, simplicity, and anti-fragility. A machine with tons of ports, openings, mechanical parts, and janky software is one that breaks easily. Jobs hated things that were janky and that’s consistent throughout his career. In the earlier days, making things work required expansion slots and mechanical parts. When those things ceased to be required, Apple did away with them.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#28I develop iPad accessibility software for people who have dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, etc. The iPad is a godsend. The large screen couples well with easy-grip shock-resistant spill-proof cases and attachments. My wishlist for accessibility: louder speaker (as the article mentions), and accessibility settings for a simplified patient-mode UI/UX versus a full-featured caregiver-mode. For example, zero-visib…
My son is semi-nonverbal and autistic and this is a real pain point for us. We use amazon fire tablets simply because they DO have a kids (simplified) mode. Google has a version for Android on tablets, but they don't support it well. iOS has exactly nothing.
iOS also sucks in that trying to load all his favorite shows for when we are out is near impossible (I have them loaded on an SD card on the fire). Ideal, no, but when he's stressed he throws a blanket over his head and tunes into a show he likes to control what he can. It gets us through the day.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#29I’m working on free open source for non speaking people. In the early user testing stage. If anyone is interested in getting involved please reach out.
Demo here: https://twitter.com/scosman/status/1608173613340917763
Top level ideas:
- LLMs to reduce typing. Expand single words into complete sentences easily, and predict next sentence without typing.
- Voice to text to LLM: listen to ambient conversation, and offer contextual replies with zero typing?
- New UI for text input leveraging the dynamic touchscreen of the iPad. No need to move hands, kinda like modern and user friendly Morse code.
Re: The iPad was meant to revolutionize accessibility
#30I develop iPad accessibility software for people who have dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, etc. The iPad is a godsend. The large screen couples well with easy-grip shock-resistant spill-proof cases and attachments. My wishlist for accessibility: louder speaker (as the article mentions), and accessibility settings for a simplified patient-mode UI/UX versus a full-featured caregiver-mode. For example, zero-visib…
My son is semi-nonverbal and autistic and this is a real pain point for us. We use amazon fire tablets simply because they DO have a kids (simplified) mode. Google has a version for Android on tablets, but they don't support it well. iOS has exactly nothing. iOS also sucks in that trying to load all his favorite shows for when we are out is near impossible (I have them loaded on an SD card on the fire). Ideal, no, bu…
This is coming in iOS 17 btw: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/05/apple-previews-live-s...