---
title: Day 100
author: Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats
date: 2022-08-26 12:00
tags: VoiceOver, accessibility, iOS
categories: ["Accessibility"]
series: ["365 Days iOS Accessibility"]
image: /Images/365DaysIOSAccessibility/image189.png
---

We've spoken a lot about VoiceOver in the past 100 days. But who invented VoiceOver? The answer to this question and other fascinating stories from Mike Shebanek are in these amazing episodes of *13 Letters*:

- [Who invented VoiceOver?](https://open.spotify.com/episode/54ug7mJjTvtzPjDkqMnRKX?si=8898122325c3428c)
- [Accessibility should be free](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3vl7ClBhf8SPc91Wr8bkjp?si=8a308f23d5964029)

![Drawing of a portrait of Mike Shebanek. At the top, there is the cover art for the 13 Letters podcast by Be My Eyes, and the title "Who Invented VoiceOver?"](/Images/365DaysIOSAccessibility/image189.png)

> "Apple had been a worldwide leader in this. Late 70s, early 80s. The company was starting to fade, and so accessibility disappeared. Probably for about 10 years. 2004, and my manager says: hey, what are we doing? Nothing. We have nothing."

> "Alan Brightman going to John Scully, the CEO, and Steve Jobs before Steve was ousted from the company, saying, 'If you're going to build a computer for the rest of us, then you should build a computer for all of us.'"

> "Not just deliver a screen reader but change the whole idea. And that's when I thought, we need to build this in. We need to make this free. It needs to be everywhere. It needs to be there before you know you need it."