Apple CEO Tim Cook Talks Accessibility With Three Accessibility Activists

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which takes place tomorrow, Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with three YouTubers to discuss the Accessibility features built into Apple's iOS and Mac devices.

Each of the three YouTubers, who met Cook at Apple's campus for coffee, have shared their conversations with the CEO on their respective YouTube channels. All three, including legally blind filmmaker James Rath, deaf advocate and vlogger Rikki Poynter, and actress Tatiana Lee, who was born with Spina Bifida, talked about the Apple products that they use in their daily lives. The three interviews can be watched below.




During his meeting with Poynter, Cook explained Apple's stance on accessibility and why the company goes to great lengths to make sure its devices are available to everyone.

Apple is founded on giving people power to create things, to do things that they couldn't do without those tools. And we've always viewed accessibility as a human right. And so just like human rights are for everyone, we want our products to be accessible for everyone. And so it's a basic core value of Apple. We don't make products for a particular group of people. We make products for everybody.

We feel very strongly that everyone deserves an equal opportunity and equal access. So we don't look at this thing from a return on investment point of view -- I've been asked that before. The answer is no, I've never looked at that. We don't care about that.

In addition to Cook's meetings, Apple also recently published a series of "Designed for" accessibility videos, highlighting the different ways Apple's Accessibility features are used to make Apple devices available to everyone, and there's currently an Accessibility feature in the App Store promoting Accessibility apps.

Since October, Apple has had a detailed Accessibility website that demonstrates and promotes the extensive Accessibility options built into Apple products.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
mail categories macos

Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:02 am PST by
Apple plans to expand the iPhone's redesigned Mail app to the Mac starting with macOS 15.4, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The first macOS 15.4 beta should be made available in the coming weeks, and Apple has previously suggested that the iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 series of software updates will be released to the public in April. The revamped Mail app debuted on all...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

Uaaerospace2 Avatar
100 months ago
Go to http://www.aapd.com
(American Association of People with Disabilities)
Click on employment, which takes you to : http://jobs.aapd.com/jobs
Search for Apple jobs in CA
Find no jobs listed by Apple

Now you understand Apple does not really give a sh1z about the disabled, and just uses this garbage as part of their faux "we care" emotional marketing strategy. Period.
Really? Why don't you inform your "opinion" by observing or working with people who actually need and use accessibility features in tech. Spend a day or two at Accessing Higher Ground and meet people who use the features. Work with students through an office of disability services for a day or two. Then come back and share an informed opinion. Apple's tech is pretty darn good at allowing people to access content and get on with their lives. Is it perfect? No, but few things are. Apple has been a longtime provider of accessible tech and, I would guess, has done more to promote accessibility in technology than...say...you.

Your posting of the aapd job board goes to show how desperate you are to criticizee. Why would apple post there? My place of employment has many people with the sole responsibility of providing accommodations and ensuring web, etc. accessibility. There are many, many others who have the responsibility as part of our normal job because we create content. You won't find any of our jobs posted there either. So, the logical conclusion is that we don't care about accessibility? What?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
christarp Avatar
100 months ago
Jeez, Everyone here is so mad about these videos for some reason. It's a few feel good videos with real people with real disabilities and how they've had things improve for them with Apple. Can you not just be happy about something for once in your life? This is one of those feel good moments you can just sit back and watch.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
consoleboi Avatar
100 months ago
Sorry Tim, I'm not buying the Kool-Aid you're selling.

"we don't look at ROI", "we want to make Apple products accessible to everyone".

How about making it cheaper so everyone can afford it would be a good start!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-BigMac- Avatar
100 months ago
"Everyone should have equal access"

Proceeds to increase every products base price for the last 5 years.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
developer13245 Avatar
100 months ago
Really? Why don't you inform your "opinion" by observing or working with people who actually need and use accessibility features in tech. Spend a day or two at Accessing Higher Ground and meet people who use the features. Work with students through an office of disability services for a day or two. Then come back and share an informed opinion. Apple's tech is pretty darn good at allowing people to access content and get on with their lives. Is it perfect? No, but few things are. Apple has been a longtime provider of accessible tech and, I would guess, has done more to promote accessibility in technology than...say...you.

Your posting of the aapd job board goes to show how desperate you are to criticizee. Why would apple post there? My place of employment has many people with the sole responsibility of providing accommodations and ensuring web, etc. accessibility. There are many, many others who have the responsibility as part of our normal job because we create content. You won't find any of our jobs posted there either. So, the logical conclusion is that we don't care about accessibility? What?
see:

http://www.aapd.com/disability-equality-index/

Apple is nowhere on the list, which is unacceptable for a company of their 'stature' that prattles on about how socially conscious they claim to be.

Sure, a lot of companies are not on the list, but until Apple IS on the list, they have no credibility to publish this type of emotional advertising.

Essentially, they can sell to the disabled, but do not support them as an employer.

Apple's performance in the area of disability support does not match their message.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
amegicfox Avatar
100 months ago
when does this man work ? he is a wanna be politician and really bad at it too

Tim resign from Apple so can a young smart person can make Apple great again
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)