Hi List, I was curious about the iMessage app store and the various stickers packs which are available. I haven't looked at this before, but remember some messages that apparently not all sticker packs are accessible with Voiceover. I saw one I as a Canadian was interested in, it was $1.29 so I decided to take a chance and buy it. It is called "True North" and when I opened it Voiceover did read sticker descriptions, but they were long and I think not necessarily good descriptions. It seemed there were some for all the provinces and territories, but from the app description I think those are actually stickers of typical animals found there such as the "Spirit Bear" for British Columbia (a white variant of the black bear), the bighorn sheep for Alberta and so on. In the app description was an email for support so I sent a message and I received a very prompt reply. My exchange is below and I just wanted to post about this here because it's nice to see that these guys are super responsive and interested in improving the accessibility of their stickers. Dane, who replied, mentioned they had already started working on it and that they are also adding a bunch of stickers to commemorate this year's 150th anniversary of Canada and that both the new stickers and better labelling would be in the next update. As there are quite a few Canadians on this list I thought this would be of interest and maybe others can enjoy these. Here now my original email, the answer I received and a couple more emails, when I replied this morning I received a reply in less than 5 minutes:
Hi, I am blind and use Voiceover on my iPhone which gives me complete accessibility to all of Apple’s features and apps as well as many other third-party apps. Unfortunately not all apps are accessible although more and more members of the developer community are aware of how Apple has provided the tools to give blind and visually impaired users the same access as sighted people have. I know the app store for iMessages is fairly new and I wanted to point out that your True North stickerpack which I just purchased with the hope it would be accessible is in fact accessible, however, the accessibility labels you give to each sticker could be improved as they are currently very long and contain unnecessary information. Here is one example of how Voiceover reads one of the stickers: Canada_FIN_618x618_0003_British-Columbia.png.accessibilityLabel All of the above is read out by Voiceover and while I haven’t asked anybody to look at the label, I assume based on your app description that it is the British Columbia sticker/image of a spirit bear? If so it would of course be perfect if the accessibility label you assign would simple read “British Columbia Spirit Bear”. Also, just as a suggestion, in your app description you mention something like “Nunavut_Eskimo_Dog” or similar. The word “Eskimo” is very politically incorrect and should be replaced by “Inuit”. In fact, to call an Inuit “Eskimo” is an insult. You may want to change it in order to avoid social media backlash should somebody be insulted by it. Best regards, Sieghard Here is the reply I received: Hi Sieghard, Thanks so much for writing in and bringing both of these things to our attention. I apologize for not having better voiceover accessibility tags and we'll work to make sure we improve those for all our apps in the future. And thanks for bringing to my attention Eskimo being rude. We took these provincial and territorial animals from Wikipedia, where they say Nunuvit's territorial animal is the "Canadian Eskimo Dog." But we're going to change this to "Canadian Inuit Dog." The last thing we would ever try to be is rude and we should have taken more care in double checking that reference. Thanks again for writing. Have a wonderful 2017 ahead. Dane Homenick Founder & Chief Coffee Getter Journo - Explore & Remember My response: Hello Dane, Thanks so much for the almost instant reply, I’m very impressed by this and wish all developers and companies would react so quickly and show such a willingness to improve accessibility. Many sticker packs that are available are not accessible at all because whoever designed them could not be bothered to add any accessibility labels so thanks for doing this, I hope it’s a relatively easy thing to do for you and in the future I will definitely look for your sticker packs. Where are you guys from? I did a bit more reading on the word “Eskimo” and it actually would appear that in the 3 countries affected (USA/Alaska, Russia/Siberia, Canada and Greenland) it is used differently. Here in Canada and it seems also in Greenland it is no longer used, but apparently it is still widely used in Alaska according to the below which is from a website of the Alaska Native Language Center of the University of Fairbanks: Although the name "Eskimo" is commonly used in Alaska to refer to all Inuit and Yupik people of the world, this name is considered derogatory in many other places because it was given by non-Inuit people and was said to mean "eater of raw meat." Linguists now believe that "Eskimo" is derived from an Ojibwa word meaning "to net snowshoes." However, the people of Canada and Greenland prefer other names. "Inuit," meaning "people," is used in most of Canada, and the language is called "Inuktitut" in eastern Canada although other local designations are used also. The Inuit people of Greenland refer to themselves as "Greenlanders" or "Kalaallit" in their language, which they call "Greenlandic" or "Kalaallisut." Most Alaskans continue to accept the name "Eskimo," particularly because "Inuit" refers only to the Inupiat of northern Alaska, the Inuit of Canada, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, and it is not a word in the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia. Wikipedia has this to say: Since the late 20th century, numerous indigenous people have viewed the use of the term "Eskimo" as offensive, because it is extrinsic and has been used by people who discriminated against them or their forebears. In its linguistic origins,the word Eskimo comes from Innu-aimun (Montagnais) 'ayas̆kimew' meaning "a person who laces a snowshoe" and is related to "husky", so does not have a direct pejorative meaning. In Canada and Greenland, the term "Eskimo" is seen as pejorative and has been widely replaced by the term "Inuit" or terms specific to a particular nation or community. The Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, sections 25[7] and 35[8] recognized the Inuit as a distinctive group of aboriginal peoples in Canada. Under U.S. and Alaskan law (as well as the linguistic and cultural traditions of Alaska), "Alaska Native" refers to all indigenous peoples of Alaska. This includes not only the Inupiat and the Yupik, but also groups such as the Aleut, who share a recent ancestor, as well as the largely unrelatedindigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Dene. As a result, the term Eskimo is still in use in Alaska. Alternative terms, such as Inuit-Yupik, have been proposed,but none has gained widespread acceptance. I think if you want to avoid the issue altogether you could simply call the sticker “Husky Dog” or “Sled Dog” as pretty much everybody knows what this is. Best regards and all the best for 2017, Sieghard Reply from Dane: Hey Sieghard! Thanks for this info! We've actually already started redesigning the sticker to change the name... and since we at improving this sticker pack, we're going to throw in some 150-year anniversary stickers too! Which you'll get for free when you upgrade the app once it's done. We are from Winnipeg (Go Jets Go). Thanks again for all your help Sieghard! -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. 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