Good morning.

The following is a letter I sent to Apple Accessibility this morning.

I’d like your feedback.

*Note* When I say others I speak for I am referring to a group of friends who have voiced similar concerns who asked if I’d write a letter…

Hello:

My name is Patty Fletcher, and I’m an IPhone 6 user, using latest updated version of IOS and I have written before, but feel I haven’t done a great job communicating what it is I’d like to see addressed where voice over is concerned.

First, let me say, I am extremely appreciative of the effort Apple goes to to provide accessible products to the blind and otherwise disabled public. By far although there are things which I and others feel could be done a bit better, your products as far as smart devices go are most accessible of any products I’ve found. The fact that they come able to be used shortly out of the box is something that is not lost on me or others I speak for.

All of that having been said, here are some things which I feel should be addressed, and I’d like to add that it is the feeling of blind persons the world over that if a sighted person were having such issues and there were a public outcry it would’ve already been addressed, and we (the blind consumers) have spoken about this before, both to you, the provider, and in several other venues.

I know that I speak for many when I say we’d not only like to be heard and understood, but we feel that it is time these issues were immediately addressed. We are aware that the technology is there to see to these issues.

Issues…

1.       When notifications are turned on, and a notification pops up in the notification bar on the screen, the voice over reads it and at that point whatever is already in process, such as sending an email, reading a news article, or dictating a message the voice over overrides what is being read, spoken, or heard and most times, what is being written is lost. This is extremely bothersome when for example I am in the application of word, working on my manuscript, writing a letter, etc.

2.       When hey Siri is activated, the voice over immediately begins reading what you’ve spoken, overriding whatever Siri’s answer is and although what it says does pop up on the screen hearing both the voice over, which is always behind what Siri is saying along with Siri’s voice is confusing and causes issues with commands, reading and replying to messages, etc.

3.       Dictation and voice over do not seem to be meshing together as well as they once did. The reaction time between stopping dictation and the voice over reading back what was written is slow and at times nonexistent.

This happens when phone is connected to internet and becomes even worse when is in use with cellular data.

Thank you for your time and direct attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely, Patty L. Fletcher an Apple Consumer.