Feature story and short film, well worth watching, from Apple:
One winter day in January 2024, 16‑year‑old Rory Goss experienced
something jarring while in construction class at Abbey Christian
Brothers’ Grammar School in Newry, Northern Ireland. He could no
longer see the whiteboard at the front of the room.As a straight‑A student in 11th grade, Rory was in the midst of
studying for his A‑levels and was about to start applying to
university. Passionate about golf and cars, and eager to start
driving lessons, he had no idea what was happening to his
eyesight.Within weeks, he was diagnosed with Leber’s Hereditary Optic
Neuropathy, a rare genetic condition that damages the optic nerve
and can lead to sudden, severe vision loss. Over the next six
months, his vision deteriorated by 95%, meaning he was legally
blind as he began his 12th grade exams.
Apple just posted this feature this week, but it’s serendipitously aligned with my recent (and not-so-recent) posts about the screen zooming features in MacOS and iOS. Goss zooms in and out with extraordinary dexterity and fleetness. It’s quite extraordinary. Particularly moving for me is his illustration — created on an iPad, using Apple Pencil — where he attempts to illustrate what his vision now looks like.
