The power of your personal voice

No matter our background, what we all share is a desire to connect, communicate, create and do what we love. Our different abilities mean we find ways that work best for us. Thankfully great technology that is inclusive by design, and accessible by default makes it easier for any of us to do what we need or love to do regardless of our diverse abilities.

Ahead of International Day of People with Disability (03/12/23) the power of inclusive and accessible technology to enable and empower us to do what we love is beautifully captured in this new short film by 苹果 titled, ‘The Lost Voice.’ Directed by Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi, the film focuses on a new accessibility feature called Personal Voice.

The film tells the heart-warming tale of a young girl and her pink, floppy-eared furry friend, as they search high and low for his missing voice, before revealing a uniquely personal moment between a father and a daughter. The film, which was shot in New Zealand, is narrated entirely with a genuine user of Personal Voice, Dr. Tristram Ingham who is a doctor, associate professor of epidemiology and a disability advocate from Wellington, New Zealand.

Personal Voice uses secure on-device machine learning to sample and recreate your own voice, which means if you ever subsequently lose the ability to speak, you can continue to communicate through your iPhone, iPad or Mac (using another new feature called Live Speech) — and still sound like you. This is a boon to the millions of people around the world who are at risk of losing their ability to speak due to a wide range of conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND). Personal Voice is also immensely beneficial to and impactful on the individual’s colleagues and most importantly their loved ones ?

There are so many takeaways from this inspiring film and empowering, life changing accessible technology. For me, the biggest takeaway is the story behind both! It involves how Apple live their long-held value of accessibility every day, not just IDPwD. Great products and services come from and embody our individual and organisation's values and our culture. That is what we can all learn from and emulate. Consider this:

1. Apple listened and acted on the needs of customers with a disability. Like all of their incredible accessibility features, Apple didn’t just create the features for those customers but with them. Through co-design, customer experience and need informed how Apple designed the feature to deliver an amazing empowering experience.
2. Many of the Apple staff have disabilities themselves through?Apple?actively creating a culture?of inclusion, increasing representation across their teams, and holding themselves accountable at every level.?
3. Apple's authentic commitment to inclusion saw the film cast with a genuine user of Personal Voice (Dr. Tristram Ingham) to narrate and play the role of the father.
4. Apple knows that accessibility is iterative, dynamic and never ending. Personal Voice is just the latest in a long line of incredible accessibility features that Apple has delivered.
5. Finally, Apple wanted anyone who loved the story that was told within the film to be easily shared and experienced with their loved ones. So Apple made and published for free, the book which features at the end of the film into a real storybook and ebook. ?It is available as a free downloadable on Apple Books.

Personal Voice provides the dignity of independence and inclusion through innovation. The values and culture behind it brought it to life.

Links

• The Lost Voice Film (Apple.com)
• The Lost Voice Book (Apple Books)
• Instructions on how to set up and use Personal Voice
• The Lost Voice Film (YouTube)
• Personal Voice How To (YouTube)

#Accessibility #IDPwD #MND #Shift20 #disability #inclusion Get Skilled Access Centre for Inclusive Design Service NSW NSW Department of Customer Service OZeWAI Dylan Alcott OAM Zack Alcott

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