Apple is set to launch three new accessibility functions to enable greater usability for people with disabilities. The Assistive Access, Personal Voice and Point and Speak functions will be operational later this year, the company announced earlier this week. Other features to help deaf or hard-of-hearing users and those with low vision across Apple products including Macs and iPads are also being introduced. Guide dogs are dedicated to enhancing our service delivery and empowering our service users to embrace the opportunities that technology offers, enabling them to live life on their own terms Tommy Dean, Guide Dogs It comes as the company welcomed several guide dogs from the charity Guide Dogs to its store in Birmingham as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday. The Point and Speak function allows those who are blind or have vision issues to point a camera at text and hear back what can be seen, helping people to navigate their visual environment. Tommy Dean, Guide Dogs technology development lead at Apple, said: “In today’s digitally driven world, Apple devices offer users with vision impairments the freedom to live life on their own terms. Technology is a part of our everyday lives and plays such an important role in making the world a much more accessible place Siobhan Meade, Guide Dogs “With inclusive design and comprehensive training, these devices become essential tools for independence. “Guide dogs are dedicated to enhancing our service delivery and empowering our service users to embrace the opportunities that technology offers, enabling them to live life on their own terms.” As part of the launch, Apple gave 85 vision rehabilitation specialists from Guide Dogs specialised training in iOS accessibility settings and features for individuals with vision loss in March. Siobhan Meade, digital technology content officer at Guide Dogs, said: “Technology is a part of our everyday lives and plays such an important role in making the world a much more accessible place. “I use the Maps app daily to navigate the world through my fingertips along with my guide dog Marty. “It’s great to be able to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day with the training with Apple that will allow our specialists to continue supporting people with a vision impairment to use technology with confidence to live the life they choose.” The Assistive Access feature helps to distil apps including Camera, Photos, Music, Calls and Messages to their essential features, so as to lighten the cognitive load and help users with cognitive disabilities. Users will be able to use high-contrast buttons and large text labels, or emoji-only keyboards for people who prefer to communicate visually. The Live Speech function will allow users to type what they want to say so that it can be spoken out loud during phone conversations, to help those who are losing or have lost their speech. The Personal Voice feature also allows those who are losing their speech to keep a voice that sounds like them, made by recording 15 minutes of audio on an iPhone or iPad. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Self-driving cars will cause ‘moral panic’ – transport minister Cryptocurrency trading should be regulated as gambling, says treasury committee WhatsApp offers new password protected feature to hide messages

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Days after the US Supreme Court struck down race-conscious university admissions, civil rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit targeting so-called “legacy” admissions at Harvard University. The lawsuit, alleging widespread discrimination at the college in violation of the Civil Rights Act, is the latest challenge to the practice of prioritising university admissions for the children of alumni. “There’s no birthright to Harvard. As the Supreme Court recently noted, ‘eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’ There should be no way to identify who your parents are in the college application process,” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, which filed the complaint on 3 July. “Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” he said in a statement. “Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.” The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England and the Greater Boston Latino Network. Last week, the conservative supermajority on the nation’s highest court ruled that private and public colleges and universities may not consider race as a factor in admissions, striking down the precedent affirmed in the 2003 ruling in Grutter v Bollinger. Civil rights advocates and justices who supported the decades-long precedent, intended to promote racially diverse college campuses, derided what they argue is the court’s ongoing perversion of the 14th Amendment and the foundational concept of equal protection. The latest lawsuit points to Harvard data finding that 70 per cent of the college’s donor-related and legacy applicants are white. So-called “legacy” applicants have a roughly six times greater chance of admission, according to records, pointing to a “custom, pattern and practice” that is “exclusionary and discriminatory” and “severely disadvantages and harms applicants of color,” plaintiffs argued. The complaint calls on the US Department of Education to initiate a federal investigation into Harvard’s application process and for the federal government to declare such practices illegal. “Harvard’s practice of giving a leg-up to the children of wealthy donors and alumni – who have done nothing to deserve it – must end,” Lawyers for Civil Rights litigation fellow Michael Kippins said in a statement accompanying the complaint. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Democratic lawmakers and President Joe Biden urged universities to reconsider their legacy admissions, which he said “expand privilege instead of opportunity.” The Independent has requested comment from Harvard. Read More Biden condemns Supreme Court striking down affirmative action: ‘This is not a normal court’ Biden reveals ‘new path’ to student debt relief after Supreme Court strikes down president’s plan Pence ‘doesn’t believe’ racial inequality exists in schools as he celebrates SCOTUS affirmative action ban

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