Vision impaired people require the same help reading the menu at any other coffee shop, so it’s not any different. In fact it might make it easier on them because they don’t feel like they’re holding up the line. If one of us guides them through the menu on one iPad, other customers can still use the other iPads to order.
On a related note, I did notice that our visually impaired customers have a phone app that I believe scans and reads the text from the screen out to them. Perhaps we should have our own text to speech option in some future version.
Depending how your views are laid out the app might need some polish to improve navigation, but overall it should work from the get go.
Concerns I see are that (1) only Apple users will know how to trigger it and (2) the vision impaired customer might leave VoiceOver on, which will confuse the next customer who uses the kiosk.
Like, starting the conversation with an accusatory comment of "hey, btw, did you think of this very super rare situation, or are you the evil exclusionary guy?" is kind of an asshole thing to do. Most people with sight don't encounter blindness often, so making someone feel attacked for not thinking about is just a way to generate hostility.
Having said that, I actually appreciate the content (if not the form) of this comment – it's pretty easy to accidentally block people from using your software, and accessibility reminders are an important thing. Though in this case human solution (have the waiter come and help) is probably better than software one.
I mean, if you walked into a Chevy dealership, you wouldn’t say “Hey, why aren’t there any blind driver models for the Silverado?”
If I’m running a robo-cafe, it’s a failing of Apple that there’s no way for someone blind to interact with the kiosk. I’m selling coffee, I’m not designing and manufacturing customer interface devices.
I understand the feeling that everything should cater for you, but perhaps that’s an opportunity for a different coffee place to compete for your business.
That being said, you are not entitled to anything more than anybody else just because of your disability. Nobody is entitled to free coffee, just like nobody is entitled to free cars.
It doesn’t mandate that a business must prioritize disabled customers or even that every person with a disability be able to use the service. Again, car companies are the canonical excepted business, but the ADA cannot force you to serve a customer that your business is not right for.
I’m not necessarily advocating for either side, I just don’t like the idea of an automated process being disrupted when there’s other places someone with a disability can go for the same service. Doing business is mutual.
How you think a car dealership is equivalent to a coffee shop is beyond me. That said, I can assure you that a blind person would be able to buy a car, if they wanted to. That they can't legally operate the vehicle isn't the business of the car manufacturer or dealership.
You are clearly advocating for one specific side. You've only argued for one specific side.
I have two disabled family members, and another on my wife’s side, so I think it’s uncharitable to accuse me of supporting one side when I’m not saying anything abjectly ableist. I want everybody, in the entire world, to have a comfortable life. Trouble is, that includes people whom find themselves operating a business.
I think there’s an attitude in the disabled community that they are less capable in some ways and so are not responsible for the stewardship of their lifestyle, and that does two things:
First, it galvanizes those who seek to interrupt or diminish the issues that disabled people face.
Second, it legitimizes non-issues like coffee shop kiosks and distracts people from real issues like safe housing, asset caps, and bizarre and disparate enrollment policies.
I’m just in favor of businesses doing business. I’m not the enemy, by any means.
I'm not being uncharitable, and I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm stating a fact. There is no other way to read the comments you've made so far. You've gone as far as framing it as if they just wanted a free coffee. Just because you're labeling it as a non-issue doesn't mean you're right. You've replied to an actual blind person asking for how they deal with it, it's hard to find a better example of how tone-deaf you come off.
You're describing a dystopian version of capitalism. Luckily, reality is much better and most entrepreneurs welcome advice from people with disability on how to make things more accessible.