apple proposes 13 new accessibility emojis

apple is requesting the addition of accessibility emojis to better represent individuals with disabilities and provides a more inclusive experience for all. apple proposed 13 new emojis including a guide dog, hearing aid, and people using canes and wheelchairs.

all images courtesy of apple

apple said it would be impossible to cover every possible use case with a limited set of characters. so for this proposal, apple selected a set of emojis that are most inclusive to a large number of people in four main categories. apple collaborated with the american council of the blind, the cerebral palsy foundation, and the national association of the deaf to come up with the emoji listed in the proposal.

the proposal reads: ‘we believe this proposal is a significant step forward in representing more diverse individuals, and we hope it will spark a global dialogue around better representation for people with disabilities.’ the only disability-related emoji currently offered to users is the ‘wheelchair symbol’. if the unicode approves the proposal at its april meeting, the emoji will probably launch in the second half of 2019 alongside emoji 12.0. unicode consortium will launch emoji 11.0 in the second half of this year with 157 new emoji.