Apple Celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Stevie Wonder Concert

Apple yesterday held a concert at One Infinite Loop in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. This morning, CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a thank you to Stevie Wonder, who performed at the concert.

tim cook stevie wonder

The event marked one of Apple's traditional "Beer Bash" celebrations, which in the past have seen performances by Maroon 5, One Republic, Darius Rucker, and more, usually coinciding with a major milestone like the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh.

Apple has been highlighting the importance of accessibility features throughout the week, beginning with a large collection of "Designed for" promotional videos that it posted on YouTube on Tuesday. The clips showcased features like VoiceOver and Made for iPhone hearing aids, accompanied by personal stories of how Apple fans with disabilities use each feature.

On Wednesday, Tim Cook then sat down with three accessibility activists to discuss the company's accessibility features across its range of devices. Last October, Apple published an all-new accessibility website that brings all of these features to the forefront as a way to explain and celebrate how the company has built unique accessibility features into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

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Top Rated Comments

bitfactory Avatar
103 months ago
Gone are the days when ceo's of Apple used to focus on technology
Give it a rest. Accessibility is one area Apple needs to stay nimble.

I have zero problem with any of this. +morale +public goodwill
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
103 months ago
Gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!




Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
103 months ago
Seems like gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!
Umm, assistive tech is techology. Jesus, it's called AT. Assistive technology.

Oh sure, throwing in a new CPU every now and then must be far more 'technology focused' than, say, making your devices fully accessible and usable for somebody who can't see squat. Or people who can't hear, or even have control of their limbs.

But no, you really nailed it. Not focused on technology at all.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sunny1990 Avatar
103 months ago
Seems like gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
103 months ago
i swear there is a day for everything now...
How about a "MacWhiners" day? Oh wait, that'd be a year-long event.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
joe2k17 Avatar
103 months ago
i swear there is a day for everything now...
I'm blind excuse me for having 1 article a year written on accessibility. The IPhone means way more to me than to you it's a light detector, money reader, scanner for my mail, identifier of objects like can goods, reader, radio, and a whole bunch of other things. Apple was the first to make the same out of box experience for someone blind as yourself by not making them pay extra for a product. Things will return back to normal for yourself now I'm sure there will be a bunch more new posts about the same old things.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)