World Emoji Day: Apple Unveils Their New Diversity and Disability-Themed Emojis

Apple just unveiled their disability emojis, which includes guide dog and wheelchair user, in a concerted effort towards diversity.
Fabienne Lang
New Emojis, for a more inclusive experienceApple Newsroom

In a bid to "bring even more diversity to the keyboard," Apple's upcoming disability-themed emojis will be added to our technological devices, as the tech giant aptly unveiled on World Emoji Day.

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These emojis will include a guide dog, an ear with a hearing aid, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, and will be available by the end of the year. 

"Celebrating diversity"

An Apple spokesperson said, "Celebrating diversity in all its many forms is integral to Apple's values and these new options help fill a significant gap in the emoji keyboard."

World Emoji Day: Apple Unveils Their New Diversity and Disability-Themed Emojis
Apple celebrates diversity in all its many forms with new emoji. Source: Apple

The proposal for these new emojis was sent in March 2018 to the Unicode Consortium, which is the nonprofit organization that sets the global standard for emojis.

World Emoji Day: Apple Unveils Their New Diversity and Disability-Themed Emojis
 Powerful updates to emoji encourage more inclusion and diversity. Source: Apple

At the time, 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." 

World Emoji Day: Apple Unveils Their New Diversity and Disability-Themed Emojis
Apple celebrates diversity in all its many forms with new emoji. Source: Apple

The focus of these disability-themed emojis centered around four main categories: blind and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, physical motor disabilities and hidden disabilities. 

59 new emojis to be released in the fall

A spokesperson, Kristina Barrick, for the British disability equality charity, Scope, said this was a "positive step towards disability being well and truly represented in the world of emoji." 

Given 15 percent of the world's population are disabled, it seems about time they be represented among the hundreds of already-existing emojis. 

These won't be the only emojis to be released later this year, as there will be 59 new ones added to keyboards as well. Amongst them is a mixture of food-related emojis (garlic, waffle), animals (sloth, flamingo), and activities (kite flying, parachuting), amongst others. 

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