Apple proposes guide dogs, wheelchairs & other disability-themed emoji for next version of...

AppleInsider

Apple has submitted an assortment of disability-related emoji for consideration by the Unicode Consortium, which if accepted would change the messaging standards for all computing devices, not just Apple's.

There are 45 proposed characters when taking into account men, women, and different skin tones, Emojipedia noted. These include icons with guide dogs, hearing aids, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and more.

Apple is cooperating with the American Council of the Blind, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, and the National Association of the Deaf, and says it's aiming to "better represent individuals with disabilities." In fact it notes that its submission is meant as a "starting point," implying that it may have other emoji in the works.

The characters could get shortlisted at April's meeting of the Unicode Technical Committee in an San Jose, Calif. Assuming they make it that far, however, they will still need final approval for inclusion in Emoji 12.0, due at some point in 2019.

The 2018 emoji roster is already set in stone, and should make its way to Apple devices with new versions of iOS, macOS, and watchOS this fall. Aside from new human characters this includes animals like hippos, kangaroos, and parrots, plus objects like compasses, firecrackers, and skateboards.

Apple gets to put its own artistic spin on standard emoji just as companies like Google do in Android. But Unicode partners must agree on basic concepts for each character so that someone texting on an iPhone can expect the right reaction when a person on an Android phone responds, and vice versa.

Apple's Animoji feature in the iPhone X is discrete, and not subject to the Unicode Technical Committee's emoji group.

Recently the company began cracking down on use of its custom emoji font in apps. This forced changes to popular titles such as Slack.

maestro64

I understand why Apple is proposing this, however, family member of mine who have various "ability challenges" the new PC word, do not want to been seen this way. They will tell you they do not see themselves any differently than anyone else. The one in-law will tell you she is not disable and can do anything anyone else can do, but this her strength and weakness since she never asks for help or special treatment when she should. In this day and age I can see kids using these to harass someone. 

Rayz2016

They shouldn’t put handles on the wheelchairs. 

ascii

I like the guide dog one, it is the correct breed of dog you see blind people using too.

MplsP

These are neat, I guess, but what’s the point? 90% of the emojis we have now are virtually never used - these will just add to that list. 

hexclock

maestro64 said:

I understand why Apple is proposing this, however, family member of mine who have various "ability challenges" the new PC word, do not want to been seen this way. They will tell you they do not see themselves any differently than anyone else. The one in-law will tell you she is not disable and can do anything anyone else can do, but this her strength and weakness since she never asks for help or special treatment when she should. In this day and age I can see kids using these to harass someone. 

Eventually people with robotic limb replacements will be able to do MORE than those without “disabilities”

entropys

I despise emojis.

tallest skil

entropys said:

I despise emojis.

You’re just emojist. Get with the times, grandpa. You’re on the wrong side of history. I was going to write that last sentence in emoji, but the site only allows its own images instead. Ironic.

doozydozen

tallest skil said:

entropys said:

I despise emojis.

You’re just emojist. Get with the times, grandpa. You’re on the wrong side of history. I was going to write that last sentence in emoji, but the site only allows its own images instead. Ironic.

You can use most other emojis not included in the A.I. emoji drop menu. Here’s a test:
🥃🤬💣👊

entropys

tallest skil said:

entropys said:

I despise emojis.

You’re just emojist. Get with the times, grandpa. You’re on the wrong side of history. I was going to write that last sentence in emoji, but the site only allows its own images instead. Ironic.

I am reveling in my emojism.

Ooh. That looks bad.

maestro64

tallest skil said:

entropys said:

I despise emojis.

You’re just emojist. Get with the times, grandpa. You’re on the wrong side of history. I was going to write that last sentence in emoji, but the site only allows its own images instead. Ironic.

Here is what is funny about this, emojis ideally started back when online IM started with AOL and they created the simple smiley faces. I use them back in the 90's. To your point emojis are such 90's thing I have moved on. Also short hand texting was all the craze at that time too. So been there done that, moved on.

dewme

I do wonder where "emoji as a language" is truly heading. At first these were mostly just whimsical little doodles to liven up the tone of communication. Now they've become somewhat of a symbolic language all their own, a modern day high fidelity hieroglyphic form of written communication. Could there be an official published reference that describes the language specific syntax and semantics coming soon? An Emoji based programming language - the evil spawn of Swift + APL? I only say this half jokingly because there could be merit in having a common symbolic language that doesn't suffer from the many complexities and inconsistencies in every traditional written language. After all, an eggplant is always an eggplant in Emoji - or is it? Doh!