The 22-year-old Apple visual-impaired engineer is changing the technology world _ apple

Original: This blind Apple engineer are transforming the tech world in only 22
Author: KATIE Dupere

Apple engineer Jordyn Castor is never trapped in a dilemma.

She was born 15 weeks premature and weighed less than 1 kilograms at birth-a tiny body that could even be left in the palm of her grandfather's hand, with tiny arms that could pass through his wedding ring, and the doctor said that her chances of surviving were slim.

This is the first time people despise Castor, but also her first time is very irksome.

Today, Castor is 22 years old, but because of premature birth, she was blind. But since childhood, parents have encouraged her to challenge people's prejudice against the disabled, so that she becomes a love adventure, the courage to practice, with unlimited knowledge of the people. It was this spirit that brought her into contact with technology-whether it was a desktop computer that her family had bought for her in her second year, or a school where her teacher encouraged her to use the classroom computer.

She says adults often give her gadgets to get her to understand and tell them how to use it, and she always does.

"Then I realized that I could do what I wanted by writing code on my computer, using computer knowledge and technology to change the world of people with disabilities," says Castor. "Right now, she's focused on optimizing voiceover for Apple's visually impaired users," she said. Bringing personal perspective into Apple's innovation

In the workplace, "pluralism" is often overlooked-that is, the need to have a view of people with disabilities. Keeping a close eye on the needs of visually impaired people is an important part of Apple's barrier-free innovation, and Castor shows how much value she can bring to the company.

She first met Apple's recruiter at a job fair in Minneapolis in 2015, when she was a Michigan State University student. Before she knew the job fair was Cortine, so she was very nervous. She silently said: "Do not know if you do not try, do not talk about the results ... So go on. ”

Fig. 1 Apple engineer Jordyn Castor, who drives the barrier-free Apple products (especially for the visually impaired).
Photo: Supplied by Apple and Jordyn Castor

Castor told Apple's recruiter that on her 17 birthday she received a gift, an ipad, which surprised her very--ipad the immediacy of her enthusiasm for technology rose to a higher level. Castor told reporters: "The ipad is out-of-the-box, and all the features run smoothly, this is the experience I never had." ”

Herrlinger, a senior manager in charge of Apple's global barrier-free policies and measures, said: "When it comes to accessibility, the company makes it as standardized as possible, not proprietary, in order to achieve double accessibility--to get technology to reach more users while reducing development costs."

Herrlinger also said: "Whether you need, the device will bring these features, because it is built, so free." Previously visually impaired people had to purchase additional products before they could be used properly. ”

At that appointment, Castor's enthusiasm for the barrier-free work and Apple was obvious and was recruited as an intern, focused on the voiceover function. With the end of the internship, due to professional skills clearance, and enthusiasm for barrier-free technology, Castor hired to become a full-time engineer, the Apple "barrier-free functional design and quality team"-according to Castor, this is a group of "enthusiasm" and "focus" of the people.

She commented on her work: "I have a direct impact on the life of the blind people, I can't believe it." "Innovation--with a blind person

One of the driving values of Apple, based on the principle of "diversity to inspire innovation", is to improve usability for all users.
"Apple loves its products and wants everyone to use them," says Herrlinger. "Usability is not a permanent job, it can't be done on the list, it's going to be something else, and it needs to be sustained." ”
The work has been a concern for the blind, and July 4 Apple has been awarded the Robert S. Bray Award by the American Association for the Blind (American Council of the Blind) for its "progress in accessibility" and its persistent ability to provide innovative features to blind users.

Figure 2 on July 4, 2016, Apple was awarded the Robert S. Bray, pictured by Sarah Herrlinger and the managing director of the American Blind Society (ACB), Eric Bridges, at the awards ceremony.
Photo: Supplied by Apple and ACB

With voiceover, Apple has made the first touchscreen device accessible to visually impaired users, and Siri will log on to the Mac this fall, as well as functions such as a magnifying glass for the weaker crowd, which continues to focus on the visually impaired.

The latest case in this area can be referred to Apple Watch. People with normal eyesight sweep a watch, it is easy to know the time, but for the blind, no voiceover is impossible to tell. And Apple has designed a new feature that prompts time by vibration, a feature that will be available in watchOS 3. Hi-Tech meets low tech

Castor says her personal and professional achievements depend on two things--technology and Braille. For many people, even for the visually impaired, it seems strange. Braille and new technology are often regarded as incompatible with each other, and as technology advances, fewer people will be braille.

However, the study found that Braille is closely linked to the employment and stability of the blind, more than 70% of the blind do not work, and most (about 80%) of working blind people have the common feature of reading Braille. Braille is critical to Castor's innovative work in Apple, and she believes that technology is just a "complement" rather than a substitute for Braille, and that "every time I write code, I use a braille display to see what the code is like." ”

In programming, Castor mixed the use of Nemeth Braille (Nemeth Braille, also known as "math Braille") and the letter braille (alphabetic braille), and she even said that although there was a large share of technology in life, she still preferred to read the meeting schedule in Braille. "I can ' see ' grammar and punctuation, words and how the content is written. ”

Apple's technology also supports her love of braille--such as access to a Braille display (Braille displays) that plugs into a device to help her encode and communicate. But Castor sometimes can manipulate devices and read screens only through voiceover.

Fig. 3 A Braille display compatible with Apple products, operated in braille instruction.
Photo: Supplied by Apple

Giving back to the community

Recently, Castor attended a meeting held by the American Federation of the Blind (National Federation of the Blind), where she told her story. ' When you step into the venue and listen to the surroundings, you can feel the impact of Apple on the blind community, ' she says. ' When I cross the hall, I can hear voiceover. ”

Recently, castor her enthusiasm to the next generation of engineers.

She is pushing Apple to playgrounds the swift, a child-oriented coding program that she is trying to get the blind child waiting for a long time to use. "I keep getting Facebook messages from parents of blind children who tell me ' my kids want to program, and you know how to get them to do it, '" he said. ' And when this program is released, I can tell them, ' Of course, they can start programming now. ’”

Figure 4 Swift Playgrounds's promotional materials show how this program works, user programming instructions, and mobile roles through maze class challenges. Using voiceover, blind children can also use them.
Photo: Supplied by Apple

Castor says the Swift Playground project has grown her experience and the team values her view of the voiceover experience. task-based, interactive Software has had a huge impact on her childhood, learning technology in a guided way, and figuring out how it works-a virtual version of the way childhood parents taught her "hands-on, inquisitive" theory.

According to Castor, the program "allows children to program in depth, and swift playgrounds is out-of-the-box, with no need to adjust the changes, just open the voiceover to start." ”

Castor, who was often encouraged to challenge her childhood, said she had a sentence for the next generation of visually impaired programmers, such as those who could use Swift playgrounds this fall: "Blindness does not define life, it is just a part of life, and other features of you-blindness does not define who you are, It will not limit what you can do. ”