We’ve already got avocados, fairies and unicorns, yet people with disabilities have not been represented in emoji form – until now.
Apple has announced we’ll soon be able to start using its new inclusive emojis, including wheelchair users, a guide dog, prosthetic limbs and a hearing aid.
Unicode – the organisation that manages the distribution of emojis – announced it had approved new emojis representing a range of disabilities back in February. But to mark World Emoji Day, Apple confirmed the designs will be available on your Apple keypads by autumn 2019.
“Celebrating diversity in all its many forms is integral to Apple’s values,” a spokesperson said. “These new options help fill a significant gap in the emoji keyboard.”
Kristina Barrick, head of digital commission at disability equality charity Scope, praised the move. “We’ve had ghosts, robots, a poo with a face and even 10 empty squares to choose from, so it’s about time emojis started to better represent the 13.9 million disabled people in the UK alone,” she said.
“These updates are a positive step towards disability being well and truly represented in the world of emoji, and we can’t wait to start using them.”
People on Twitter also welcomed the announcement.
Some people questioned why it has taken so long for Apple to create the emojis in the first place.
The emojis will launch as a part of a large keyboard update by Apple.
There’s a big change to the “holding hands” emoji, often used to represent couples (👫). Users will now be able to select any combination of skin tone and gender to personalise the people holding hands, opening up more than 75 possible combinations.
Other updates include new food items, such as a waffle, falafel, slab of butter and garlic, as well as new animals like the sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk. You can find all the new emojis coming later this year here.