Apple has proposed nine new emoji to the Unicode consortium for inclusion in the standard set of images. If accepted, they will appear Emoji 12.0, which is scheduled for release early in 2019.
In itself, that’s not a big deal, but Apple’s focus here is laudable. All nine emoji are aimed at better representation for people with disabilities. Apple makes its intentions clear in its proposal letter to the Unicode Consortium.
One in seven people around the world has some form of disability, whether that be a physical disability involving vision, hearing, or loss of physical motor skills, or a more hidden, invisible disability. The current selection of emoji provides a wide array of representations of people, activities, and objects meaningful to the general public, but very few speak to the life experiences of those with disabilities.
The new emoji would represent some of the most common disabilities. They are:
