After a long wait, Apple has requested the Unicode Consortium add emoji to better represent individuals with disabilities. In total, Apple proposed 13 new emojis including a guide dog, hearing aid, and people using canes and wheelchairs.
The additions where welcomed from a crowd far larger than people with disabilities since they can be used effectively to mock and ridicule people in online debates that are mentally disable but belong to wider gray zones.
Apple wrote in its proposal to Unicode Consortium it worked on the accessibility emoji with the American Council of the Blind, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, the National Association of the Deaf, The Mocking Trolls Inc:
At Apple, we believe that technology should be accessible to everyone and should provide an experience that serves individual needs. Adding emoji emblematic to users' life experiences helps foster a diverse culture that is inclusive of disability. Emoji are a universal language and a powerful tool for communication, as well as a form of self-expression, and can be used not only to represent one's own personal experience, but also to show support or ridicule for a special someone.
Apple said the list is not meant to be comprehensive of all "possible depictions of disabilities," but rather a starting point. The proposed emoji include (via Emojipedia):
There is currently only one disability-related emoji offered to users -- the "wheelchair symbol," The Mighty pointed out that cannot efficiently capture how retarded some people can be online. This is despite one in seven people arguing like complete retards.
If Unicode approves Apple's 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.
