The media image of the disability is almost distorted perpetuating wrong beliefs among both abled and disabled as very well portrayed by Abha Khetarpal. The commercial for the new Apple iPhone Siri is different in this sense. It embraces Steve Jobs vision of embracing universal design both technology wise as well as promotion wise. The commercial ends with a visually impaired using the device. This is not the end. The soundtrack also is given by a visually impaired person- Ray Charles. As Jobs rightly quoted “…things don’t have to change the world to be important.”
 
People worldwide are mourning the death of the legend. There is a small largely neglected sector as well which deeply mourns the passing away of Jobs- Disability Sector. When Tim came to know about the death of Jobs he tweeted , “I am on my way to PHL to see my son, who uses a device Jobs invented to help him talk. He will never know.” These powerful words from the father of an autistic son have been retweeted more than 800 times and echoes the sentiments what Jobs has done for autistic peoples.

 Alex Dejong, a professional photographer, lost his vision because of a tumor and had to depend on others to edit his art work. In comes Apple’s iPhone 3GS which helped him in enabling him to edit photographs’ on its own. Similarly, Charlie, a 14 year old on the severe end of autism spectrum found a new leash of life with Apple iPad which streamlined to a great extent his struggle to communicate and coordinate.

In today’s world, where accessibility for persons with disabilities(PwD) is merely on paper, Jobs  understood the true meaning of universal design and empowered PwD’s with power in their hands. The apple in the logo may not be perfect but the vision of its founder was indeed perfect.

R.I.P Steve.