Apple Reveals Plans to Launch Emojis to Represent People Living with Disabilities

Apple has revealed plans to launch new emojis for the representation of people living with disabilities.

According to Apple, the new emojis will include a guide dog, a wheelchair user and prosthetic limbs.

The company said that very few of the current emoji options “speak to the life experiences of those with disabilities”.

“Adding emoji emblematic to users’ life experiences helps foster a diverse culture that is inclusive of disability,” it added.

According to the BBC, Apple’s submitted its proposal to the Unicode Consortium, the organization which reviews requests for new emoji characters.

In its submission Apple said: “Currently, emoji provide a wide range of options, but may not represent the experiences of those with disabilities.

“Diversifying the options available helps fill a significant gap and provides a more inclusive experience for all.”

It’s made 13 suggestions of emojis to introduce.

• A guide dog
• A man and woman walking with a cane
• A man and woman signing that they are deaf
• An ear with a hearing aid
• A man and woman in both mechanical and manual wheelchairs
• A service dog (a trained dog that helps those with hidden disabilities)
• A prosthetic arm
• A prosthetic leg

“This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all possible depictions of disabilities, but to provide an initial starting point for greater representation for diversity within the emoji universe,” Apple said.

The next Unicode Technical Committee meeting sits next month at Adobe Headquarters in San Jose. If approved, these characters would be shortlisted for potential inclusion in Emoji 12.0 which comes out in the first half of 2019.