Tim Cook recruits Siri for advice in Cerebral Palsy Foundation "Just Say Hi" campaign

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in iPhone
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has joined a series of celebrities adding their voice to a new Cerebral Palsy Foundation campaign designed to spark conversations with people with disabilities--in a spot that seeks advice from Siri.




Cook's video, shared on the CPF website as well as on the group's free iOS App states, "At Apple, we believe that inclusion inspires innovation, diversity gives us strength. And that includes people with disabilities."



The CPF campaign, intended to break down barriers to communicating with people who have a disability, suggests that people "just say hi" to start a conversation.

In Cook's video, he says, "it's easier than you think, but don't take my word for it." He then asks his iPhone 6s, "Hey Siri, how do you start a conversation with someone who has a disability?"

Siri responds, "It's easy. Just say 'Hi.'"

The video--captured at Apple's Cupertino campus (apparently at its nearby glass modernist cafeteria, featuring a design similar to the Campus 2 site now nearing completion)--cuts from Cook to Siri's response on the iPhone display, revealing that the video was also shot with an iPhone 6s, as is apparent in the screen's reflection (above). The phone also suggests that Cook uses AT&T and opted for Rose Gold.

"There you go," Cook says. "Reach out to someone with a disability. You can start by just saying Hi."

Cook, who is scheduled to receive the Robert F. Kennedy Center Justice & Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award tonight, joined a variety of CPF "Just Say Hi" video segments from TV personalities, athletes and others, including Microsoft's chief executive Satya Nadella (below).



CPF noted that "Satya's warmth permeates his communication." Nadella, however, relied on a standard video set and didn't reference any of the accessibility features of Windows, which are lagging significantly behind those of Apple's iOS.

Nadella was recently heckled on stage during a shareholder meeting by Microsoft's largest shareholder (and former chief executive) Steve Ballmer, who complained that Microsoft's universal apps strategy for getting more developers to bring their software to Windows phones and tablets "won't work," recommending instead that the company create a way to emulate Android apps.

However, Google's Android also significantly trails Apple in mobile software scope and quality, in addition to also lagging iOS in its accessibility features.

Apple drives accessibility



Apple has long invested in Accessibility features designed to make its products useable by people with disabilities. Last year, the president of the National Federation of the Blind noted that "Apple has done more for accessibility than any other company.""Apple has done more for accessibility than any other company" - National Federation of the Blind

Siri, Apple's intelligent assistant introduced on iPhone 4s in 2011, lets iOS users send messages, place phone calls, schedule meetings and other tasks with their voice. Siri can even to turn on accessibility features like VoiceOver.

As Cook demonstrated in his video, the newest iPhone 6s models now support an "always on" Hey Siri feature that lets users invoke the feature even without pressing a button.

Siri also helps fuel Apple's CarPlay initiative for hands free and "Eyes Free" navigation while driving, and plays a significant role in making the latests Apple TV easier and more compelling to use. Apple released new tvOS software today that expands Siri to enable voice search of Apple Music content.

In addition to Siri voice control, Apple has also developed a range of other accessibility features to help people with Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities that affect physical and motor control, including AssistiveTouch, Dictation and Predictive Text, as well as Touch Accommodation and Switch Control.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    noivadnoivad Posts: 186member
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    I just want Siri to be smarter already. This seems to be more about marketing honestly.

    If you ask an even simpler version of the question you gets dumb answers like:


    Why not revamp the whole system with answers on the fly? I appreciate this one disability question being addressed but again, it was just a special case.

    see:


    edited December 2015
  • Reply 3 of 11
    Well two posts,two negative responses re a post reaching out to ppl with disabilities. Must be AI.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    noivad said:
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    What you are saying isn't true. 

    It's the point of advocacy groups to demand the moon. That doesn't change the fact that Apple has been leading accessibility, from being one of the first tech companies to even care in the 1980s to adding VoiceOver on iPods to designing iOS from the start to work for disabled users. 

    It's not hard to demand more, but if you compare everyone else, the #2 is far behind. 
    jay-t
  • Reply 5 of 11
    noivad said:
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    Any evidence that Apple actually stonewalled those with physical disabilities, or was that just a consequence of them rightly locking their OS down?
    jay-tnolamacguy
  • Reply 6 of 11
    noivadnoivad Posts: 186member
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    noivad said:
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    What you are saying isn't true. 

    It's the point of advocacy groups to demand the moon. That doesn't change the fact that Apple has been leading accessibility, from being one of the first tech companies to even care in the 1980s to adding VoiceOver on iPods to designing iOS from the start to work for disabled users. 

    It's not hard to demand more, but if you compare everyone else, the #2 is far behind. 
    Actually, I worked with a company interested in trying to get Apple to open up Siri to accept 3rd party buttons for quadriplegics (head switches to activate since at the time Siri required the home button to be pressed to activate it). I made official inquiries and unofficial inquiries and was told flat out, no. The Apple reps I did talk to had no information for me outside 3rd parties that had no solutions fit for Siri either, just their own 4 figure assistive devices which were predominantly compatible with Windows and fewer with OS X. So, what I am saying is true, because I experienced it first hand. Also, at the time, their website had a lot of info for visually and the hearing impaired but almost nothing helpful for physically disabled people.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    noivadnoivad Posts: 186member
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    noivad said:
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    Any evidence that Apple actually stonewalled those with physical disabilities, or was that just a consequence of them rightly locking their OS down?
    We weren’t looking for the kingdom, just one physically disabled-friendly way to access Siri. If you look at the Canadian findings from a survey done a few years back it concluded the same thing. I spent a few months researching this problem, but to no satisfactory resolution. I even gave them the advantages of being able to hail Siri without touch for non-disabled people—something they’re touting now—such as a person preparing food with their hands full & asking Siri to answer the phone on speaker. And to be fair, Android was even more pitiful in supporting people with disabilities. I have been well aware of Apple’s lead in accessibility since before it switched to a Unix stack, but it’s been primarily sight and hearing, not physical. Check out ATMac (http://atmac.org) to see the current state of Mac/iOS Accessibility.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    cali said:
    I just want Siri to be smarter already. This seems to be more about marketing honestly.

    If you ask an even simpler version of the question you gets dumb answers like:


    Why not revamp the whole system with answers on the fly? I appreciate this one disability question being addressed but again, it was just a special case.

    see:


    You sure do whine a lot don't you!
  • Reply 9 of 11
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    noivad said:

    We weren’t looking for the kingdom, just one physically disabled-friendly way to access Siri. If you look at the Canadian findings from a survey done a few years back it concluded the same thing. I spent a few months researching this problem, but to no satisfactory resolution. I even gave them the advantages of being able to hail Siri without touch for non-disabled people—something they’re touting now—such as a person preparing food with their hands full & asking Siri to answer the phone on speaker. And to be fair, Android was even more pitiful in supporting people with disabilities. I have been well aware of Apple’s lead in accessibility since before it switched to a Unix stack, but it’s been primarily sight and hearing, not physical. Check out ATMac (http://atmac.org) to see the current state of Mac/iOS Accessibility.

    so, do you honestly believe it was an anti-physical-disability conspiracy? because they wanted to be difficult or callous to your cause? or, simply that they werent ready to implement that at the time? perhaps they were aware of their feature roadmap, or the code wasnt refactored enough, or whatever, etc... 

    your phrasing of the narrative seems resentful, when in all likeliness youre ignorant as to what their reasons actually were.

    tallest skil
  • Reply 10 of 11
    noivadnoivad Posts: 186member
    This still doesn’t make up for the stonewalling Apple gave to people trying to get them to open up iOS enough to be used by people with physical disabilities just 3 years ago.
    noivad said:

    We weren’t looking for the kingdom, just one physically disabled-friendly way to access Siri. If you look at the Canadian findings from a survey done a few years back it concluded the same thing. I spent a few months researching this problem, but to no satisfactory resolution. I even gave them the advantages of being able to hail Siri without touch for non-disabled people—something they’re touting now—such as a person preparing food with their hands full & asking Siri to answer the phone on speaker. And to be fair, Android was even more pitiful in supporting people with disabilities. I have been well aware of Apple’s lead in accessibility since before it switched to a Unix stack, but it’s been primarily sight and hearing, not physical. Check out ATMac (http://atmac.org) to see the current state of Mac/iOS Accessibility.

    so, do you honestly believe it was an anti-physical-disability conspiracy? because they wanted to be difficult or callous to your cause? or, simply that they werent ready to implement that at the time? perhaps they were aware of their feature roadmap, or the code wasnt refactored enough, or whatever, etc... 

    your phrasing of the narrative seems resentful, when in all likeliness youre ignorant as to what their reasons actually were.

    No, I never said it was a conspiracy, nor that they were callous. They simply did not care enough. And yes, I am resentful because their attitude at the time was there was that this was not a significant enough issue because the market was very, very small and it wasn’t significant enough to warrant addressing. So, unless you have even more insight than I do—such as you work in the department that creates assistive technology, I would say you were the ignorant one. I wrote what my direct experience was, and I am not even going to quote their unofficial response which was actually openly hostile. But, I’ll give you a hint: it began with a word churchgoers might find offense to.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    And Tim Cook should be focusing on Apple instead of helping the cripples. /sarcasm 
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