The touch bar replaced the usual row of function buttons on the MacBook Pros. It's been controversial.
It is one of the most hated gadgets features among tech media. In its review of the most recent MacBook Pro, the website wrote that it would be useless in a few years. The Touch Bar was expensive and I hated it as much as the butterfly keyboard. The little strip has been called "hopelessly confused", "baffling", "dreaded", and "infinitely worse than a hard button" by different reviewers. Everyone in the market for a MacBook thinks it's useless.
Steven Aquino is an accessibility minded writer. The keyboard is difficult to use for people with disabilities due to the fine motor skills required to perform the keys and the cognitive load required to remember them. He can use the touch bar to access a single feature that would otherwise require multiple taps.
A journalist who covers accessibility wrote in a column for Forbes that the company packed so many functions for disabled people in that thin strip of screen.
As the touch bar has persisted through several cycles of MacBook Pro, with laptop reviewers unanimously complaining every step of the way, Aquino has pleaded with the public to understand how much the touch bar has benefited him. Being its champion has been difficult at times.
"People say to me how stupid I am every time I talk about it," he told me over the phone as he broke into tears. It has some helpful accessibility to it. Nobody said anything about it. All of them hated on it.
Journalists who are covering this rapidly evolving beat are not uncommonly frustrated. Even though 25 percent of US adults have a disability, it's hard to find accessible information for the biggest tech releases. I asked accessibility-focused writers how the media industry can better cover assistive technology, and the answer is that it's too early to be asking that question. Many of the writers felt that the biggest outlets didn't always cover it. They should begin doing that.
“Nobody talked about it. They all just hated on it.”
I was going to speak to the reporters on staff at major tech publications who mainly cover assistive technology. I found out that there are not many.
Over the last decade or so, accessibility tech has become a public priority for large tech companies. It has become standard for companies to include an accessibility section in their conferences. The internet has made it an expectation to have alt text and audio descriptions. The lab is dedicated to inclusive gadgets. The world's largest companies bet that there is an audience for such technology.
The majority of accessibility stories are assigned to the freelancer or the staff writers. There is a case in point where I am a computing reporter. Many of the people I spoke to who have been covering accessibility for a long time don't know each other. They don't know if there are regular meetups for accessibility journalists or if there are infrastructures in place for them to share resources.
Grant Stoner, who has covered accessibility in video games for publications, thinks editors don't realize that an audience for this content exists. Since Stoner's time at Can I Play That, the following has grown so much that it isdrastically. A recent article of his received over 2000 comments and was on the front page of ign. He gets a lot of emails about his stories.
Stoner says that people care about the issue. Major publications can fold this in.
The general public should be paying attention to assistive technology because it is a niche product for disabled people. It's important for people to know that they can fall and hurt their arm or foot, and that accessibility features are helpful for that. It frustrates me that the tech sites don't go in-depth if they choose to.
It's hard to say what that should look like, as the beat continues to grow.
“The tech sites have so much room to go a lot more in-depth if they choose, and it frustrates me to all hell that they don’t.”
There are a number of ways in which accessibility tech is different from smart home beats. A specialized writer might be able to cover the releases of Microsoft's Surface adaptive kit and the earlier xbox adaptive controller. Many of the journalists I spoke to felt that the accessibility beat doesn't stop at "accessibility" products. Everyone buys and uses accessibility tech, but disabled users may need specific information to determine if they can use it.
Chris Reardon, a freelancer who has covered accessibility for publications including PCMag and Gizmodo, and who has disabilities due to radiation on a brain tumor, needs specific keyboard keys and large button controls for his gadgets. He needs high contrast colors. Shopping for devices is a bit of a wild goose chase. If I want to find all the information, I have to research reviews and watch a lot of them.
Many of the journalists I spoke to said that they did not feel the information was reliable because it didn't seem to be written by disabled writers.
Tony Polanco, who uses a wheelchair but doesn't primarily cover accessibility, writes about computing for Tom's Guide. Non-disabled journalists sometimes get the facts wrong. He says that when he reads some of them, he is like, "Oh, it's a little off there".
One of the most frustrating points is virtual reality. The controllers can be hard for people with limited mobility to use, and the game requires large movements. Polanco's position puts him a few inches below where other seated users would be, making it hard for him to play some games. According to reports, anyone can play this virtual reality game because you can sit down and play it. That is not true according to Polanco. Reporters don't know about these little things.
Stoner feels that the media missed out on discussing the accessibility of Elden Ring because they were so focused on debating the game's lack of an "easy mode" Stoner wants the easy mode controversy to be forgotten.
John agrees that there is a limit to the insight he can give as a non-disabled reporter. It is one thing for me to talk about the microsoft surface adaptive kit. He says it is another for someone who will be using this on his own device. I just talk about how great it is from a 30,000 foot view.
There are journalists with disabilities who don't want to cover accessibility. Stoner tried to avoid the beat when he was a journalist. He says that the other stories were very inspiring and that disabled journalists have been protesting for a long time. I don't want to be inspiring and I don't want to do this. Stoner remembers that it was difficult to get accessibility-related stories published. They were all like, "No, we're not interested."
Stoner has been sold on the topic as more outlets invest in it. He says that it is not perfect but that it is moving upwards.
Polanco doesn't know how he feels. He wanted to write about computers when he was hired. He is worried about being pigeonholed. He says he gets attention as it is. Tony, the wheelchair reporter, said, 'Oh, it's Tony, the wheelchair reporter.' I don't want to be called that. He wouldn't want to be a part of the accessibility beat. He says that he would be very insulted by that.
Polanco agrees that centering voices like his own is important to the beat and that he has more authority on the subject than non- disabled writers. He ponders if he should be doing more. He says he could cover it fairly well if it came up big in tech. I have the power to speak about this. I just want to take a look at the computers.
There would be less of a problem if outlets had more than one disabled person on staff. He thinks that the gaming industry is good at having token people represent certain topics. Even though you have disabled members on your staff, it doesn't mean you get to throw everything at them. He says that if you have disabled members of your staff who want to write about this, they should be first in line.
“Just because you have disabled members on your staff doesn’t mean you get to throw everything related to accessibility at them.”
The solution is simple, hire an accessibility reporter. accessibility is deserving of its own beat. He says that they should hire someone to cover it.
Some people think that every tech reporter should have access in their mind. There is a proposal to publish an accessibility review with every standard product review.
The founder and executive director of Able Gamers is in that camp. Barlet says that she is excited about the new thing and wants to know everything about it. I need my phone reporter to help me find my next device and understand that I am a person with disabilities. I have a disability that isn't contained in a vacuum. I'm still a customer.
People agree that having more disabled journalists in newsrooms would be a huge help. It makes a difference on Barlet's team at Able Gamers, which includes a number of members with disabilities. Barlet feels that the more representation the community gets in meetings and discussions, the better the group will be.
It's difficult to find data about how well represented disabled writers are in US media. Diversity in the newsroom is not tracked very well. The National Center on Disability and Journalism is the only national organization for disabled journalists. Sara Luterman wrote that she had to find other disabled journalists.
Polanco says he has had people come up to him and say they didn't know they could do it. They have never seen anyone do this kind of thing.
Tech newsrooms need accessible coverage. They need to draw from their experiences. It's important that they don't put the burden on a small group of disabled writers. It is not easy to solve, but it should be a priority for disabled writers.
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