[nfbcs] Fwd: [iDevices] Fw: [Missouri Chat] Article about Blind Apple Engineer

[Susan Stanzel]

She had a wonderful presentation last week. Susan Stanzel

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: John and Donna Weidlich via iDevices <idevices at gatewayfortheblind.com>
> Date: July 13, 2016 at 1:22:13 PM CDT
> To: <idevices at gatewayfortheblind.com>
> Cc: John and Donna Weidlich <jdweidlich at charter.net>
> Subject: [iDevices] Fw: [Missouri Chat] Article about Blind Apple Engineer
> Reply-To: "Support for iDevices." <idevices at gatewayfortheblind.com>
> I thought some of you might find this article interesting. John
> This blind Apple engineer is transforming the tech world at only 22
> 
> 3 days ago
> 
> Apple engineer Jordyn Castor has never been one for limitations. She was born 15
> weeks early, weighing just under two pounds. Her grandfather could hold her in
> the palm of his hand, and could even slide his wedding ring along her arm and
> over her shoulder. Doctors said she had a slim chance of survival.
> 
> It was Castor's first brush with limited expectations — and also the first time
> she shattered them.
> 
> Castor, now 22, has been blind since birth, a result of her early delivery. But
> throughout childhood, her parents encouraged her to defy expectations of people
> with disabilities, motivating her to be adventurous, hands-on and insatiably
> curious.
> 
> It was that spirit that led to her interact with technology, whether it was the
> desktop computer her family bought when she was in second grade, or the
> classroom computer teachers encouraged her to use in school.
> 
> "I could help make technology more accessible for blind users."
> 
> She says the adults in her life would often hand her a gadget, telling her to
> figure it out and show them how to use it. And she would. "I realized then I
> could code on the computer to have it fulfill the tasks I wanted it to," says
> Castor, whose current work focuses on enhancing features like VoiceOver for
> blind Apple users. "I came to realize that with my knowledge of computers and
> technology, I could help change the world for people with disabilities. "I could
> help make technology more accessible for blind users."
> 
> Bringing a personal perspective to Apple innovation
> 
> There's an often overlooked component of "diversity" in workplace initiatives —
> the need to include the perspectives of people with disabilities. Keeping tabs
> on the needs of the blind and low-vision community is a key component of Apple's
> innovation in accessibility. Castor is proof of how much that can strengthen a
> company.
> 
> She was a college student at Michigan State University when she was first
> introduced to Apple at a Minneapolis job fair in 2015. Castor went to the
> gathering of employers, already knowing the tech giant would be there — and she
> was nervous.
> 
> "You aren't going to know unless you try," she thought. "You aren't going to
> know unless you talk to them ... so go."
> 
> Apple engineer Jordyn Castor poses for a headshot. Castor is a driving force
> behind accessibility of Apple products, especially for blind users. Image:
> Provided by Apple and Jordyn Castor Castor told Apple reps how amazed she was by
> the iPad she received as a gift for her 17th birthday just a few years earlier.
> It raised her passion for tech to another level — mainly due to the iPad's
> immediate accessibility.
> 
> "Everything just worked and was accessible just right out of the box," Castor
> tells Mashable. "That was something I had never experienced before."
> 
> "I'm directly impacting the lives of the blind community."
> 
> Sarah Herrlinger, senior manager for global accessibility policy and initiatives
> at Apple, says a notable part of the company's steps toward accessibility is its
> dedication to making inclusivity features standard, not specialized. This allows
> those features to be dually accessible — both for getting the tech to more
> users, as well as keeping down costs.
> 
> "[These features] show up on your device, regardless of if you are someone who
> needs them," Herrlinger tells Mashable. "By being built-in, they are also free.
> Historically, for the blind and visually impaired community, there are
> additional things you have to buy or things that you have to do to be able to
> use technology."
> 
> At that job fair in 2015, Castor's passion for accessibility and Apple was
> evident. She was soon hired as an intern focusing on VoiceOver accessibility. As
> her internship came to a close, Castor's skills as an engineer and advocate for
> tech accessibility were too commanding to let go. She was hired full-time as an
> engineer on the accessibility design and quality team — a group of people Castor
> describes as "passionate" and "dedicated."
> 
> "I'm directly impacting the lives of the blind community," she says of her work.
> "It's incredible."
> 
> Innovation with blind users in mind
> 
> Increased accessibility for all users is one of Apple's driving values, under
> the mantra "inclusion inspires innovation." Herrlinger says the company loves
> what it makes, and wants what it makes to be available to everyone. She
> describes the need to continuously innovate with accessibility in mind as part
> of Apple's DNA.
> 
> "Accessibility is something that is never-ending," Herrlinger says. "It isn't
> something where you just do it once, check that box and then move on to do other
> things."
> 
> And it's a dedication that isn't going unnoticed by the blind community. On July
> 4, Apple was the recipient of the American Council of the Blind's Robert S. Bray
> Award for the company's strides in accessibility and continued dedication to
> inclusion-based innovation for blind users.
> 
> Sarah Herrlinger, senior manager for global accessibility policy and initiatives
> at Apple, and Eric Bridges, executive director of the American Council of the
> Blind (ACB), pose with the Robert S. Bray award at ACB's national conference on
> July 4, 2016.
> 
> The company, for example, made the first touchscreen device accessible to the
> blind via VoiceOver. Recent announcements of Siri coming to Mac this fall, and
> of newer innovations, like a magnifying glass feature for low-vision users, have
> continued the promise of improving the Apple experience for those who are blind
> and low vision.
> 
> "The fact that we take the time to innovate in these ways is something new and
> different," Herrlinger says. "It was not the expected thing in the tech
> community."
> 
> Often, the success of such innovations depends on the input of the community —
> and employees like Castor provide irreplaceable first-hand insight into the tech
> experience for blind individuals. The most recent example of community-driven
> innovation can be found on the Apple Watch. During a meeting, Herrlinger
> explains, a person who sees could easily peer down at their watch to keep an eye
> on the clock. A person who is blind, however, hasn't had a way to tell time
> without VoiceOver. After confronting the conundrum, Apple solved the issue by
> making a feature that tells time through vibrations. The addition, Herrlinger
> says, is coming to watchOS 3 this fall.
> 
> High-tech meets low-tech
> 
> Castor says her own success — and her career — hinges on two things: technology
> and Braille. That may sound strange to many people, even to some who are blind
> and visually impaired. Braille and new tech are often depicted as at odds
> with one another, with Braille literacy rates decreasing as the presence of tech
> increases. But many activists argue that Braille literacy is the key to
> employment and stable livelihood for blind individuals. With more than 70% of
> blind people lacking employment, the majority of those who are employed — an
> estimated 80% — have something in common: They read Braille.
> 
> "Braille allows me to know what the code feels like."
> 
> For Castor, Braille is crucial to her innovative work at Apple — and she insists
> tech is complementary to Braille, not a replacement. I use a Braille display
> every time I write a piece of code," she says. "Braille allows me to know what
> the code feels like."
> 
> In coding, she uses a combination of Nemeth Braille — or "math Braille" — and
> Alphabetic Braille. Castor even says that with the heavy presence of tech in her
> life, she still prefers to read meeting agendas in Braille. "I can see grammar.
> I can see punctuation. I can see how things are spelled and how things are
> written out," she says.
> 
> The technologies that Apple creates support her love of Braille, too — there are
> various modifications, like Braille displays that can to plug into devices, to
> help her code and communicate. But Castor also often forgoes Braille displays,
> solely using VoiceOver to navigate her devices and read screens.
> 
> A Braille display like this one, which is compatible with Apple products, allows
> blind users to navigate technology using Braille commands. Image: PRovided by
> Apple
> 
> That autonomy of choice in accessibility, Apple says, is intentional. T he
> company believes that the ability to choose — to have several tools at a user's
> disposal, whenever they want them — is key to its accessibility values.
> 
> Giving back to the community
> 
> Last week, Castor attended a conference hosted by the National Federation of the
> Blind, where she gave a speech telling her story. She says the impact that Apple
> has had on the blind community was extremely clear as soon as she stepped into
> the conference hall — just by listening to what was going on around her.
> 
> "When I walk through the convention, I hear VoiceOver everywhere," she says.
> "Being able to give back through something that so many people use is amazing."
> Castor was recently able to use her presence and perspective at Apple to give
> back to a part of the community she's especially passionate about — the next
> generation of engineers. She was a driving force behind accessibility on Apple's
> soon-to-be released Swift Playgrounds, an intro-to-coding program geared toward
> children. She's been working to make the program accessible to blind children,
> who have been waiting a long time for the tool, she says.
> 
> "I would constantly get Facebook messages from so many parents of blind
> children, saying, 'My child wants to code so badly. Do you know of a way that
> they can do that?'" Castor says. "Now, when it's released, I can say,
> 'Absolutely, absolutely they can start coding.'"
> 
> how the program will work when released in fall. Users will code commands to
> make a character move throughout puzzle-like challenges. The program will use
> VoiceOver to be accessible to blind children. Image: Provided by Apple
> 
> Castor says working on Swift Playgrounds has been an empowering experience, and
> her team has deeply valued her perspective on the VoiceOver experience for blind
> users.
> 
> She says the task-based, interactive app would have made a massive impact on her
> as a child. The program is, after all, a guided way of taking tech and figuring
> out what makes it tick — a virtual version of the hands-on curiosity adults
> instilled in her as a child.
> 
> "It will allow children to dive into code," she says of the program. "They can
> use Swift Playgrounds right away out of the box; no modifications. Just turn on
> VoiceOver and be able to start coding." As someone who was always encouraged to
> challenge expectations, Castor says she has one simple message for the next
> generation of blind coders, like the children who will sit down with Swift
> Playgrounds in the fall. "Blindness does not define you," she says. "It's part
> of who you are as a person, as a characteristic — but it does not define you or
> what you can do in life."
> 
> 
> 
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