Being blind or visually impaired has its challenges, but as technology evolves, so do opportunities.
Wednesday morning, Apple employees held the company's first-ever in-school coding session for students who are blind or visually impaired. They introduced students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to a computer program that teaches them how to code.
"If somebody wants to do it and they're blind, they can because we're given the tools, the software, the programs that are accessible for doing that," said student Victoria Sanders.
"Swift Playgrounds" is part of Apple's "Everyone Can Code" curriculum which teaches students how to write and develop code on an iPad without ever having to see the screen.
"Today, we're at the Texas School for The Blind and Visually Impaired to do a program around "Swift Playgrounds," said Apple Director of Accessibility Sarah Herrlinger. "It's been built so that students who are blind can utilize voiceover, which is the built in screen reader in all of Apple's products."
"I heard about this, about iO8, but never really did anything with it," said 11th grader Robert Ingraham.
Now, he's is getting a crash course.
"It's not as easy as it seems for sure," Ingraham said.
Ingraham said he struggled with not being able to see what's on the screen to make sure he typed in everything right. Wednesday, Ingraham and his peers used their new coding skills to fly and control aerial drones.
This type of technology is one of the things Apple employees will be talking about next week at SXSW. "Innovations for Accessibility" takes place March 15.