Tag: letter

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Apple User Group Connection items (1992-1993)

These two folders are printed with a logotype for the Apple User Group Connection program. Both include stickers that indicate they are for the Community/Education Edition of the program.

The folders are made of heavy white card stock with a matte finish, measure 9 x 12 inches, and the unique design of the inside back pocket allowed the pocket to expand to about 3/8 inch.

The interior of the folders are filled with 8.5 x 11-inch printed materials, brochures, and a book. Both folders included letters from the Apple User Group Connection instructing groups leaders to participate in some aspect of the program.

The included paperback book is titled Just Add Water: Community/Education Edition. The book describes itself on the cover as “A guide for starting, sustaining, and enjoying an Apple User Group in your community, university, or K-12 school district.” The back cover includes, “Inside you will find insights and proven tips on developing and maintaining programs that successfully serve members’ needs. Just Add Water, Community/Education Edition draws on the experiences of many successful User Groups.”

The folders also include three different issues of Quick Connect: The Apple Newsletter for Apple User Groups. The issues contain articles on Apple products, Apple leadership, education, and enterprise. The three issues in this collection are from May/June 1993, January/February 1993, and March/April 1993.

In addition to the folders and their contents, this User Group Connection collection also includes nine letters addressed to user group leaders using various salutations (e.g., Dear Apple User Group Ambassador, Dear K–12 Apple User Group Ambassador, Dear Education SIG Leader, etc.) [SIG = Special Interest Group]. The letters describe new programs, features, products, and other information pertaining to the User Groups. This collection is dated between 1992–1993.

Source: Apple

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Macintosh Disability Resources letter, packet, and disk (1992)

As a company, Apple has historically focused upon making hardware and software that is accessible to all people. As of this writing in January 2023, Apple’s Accessibility features are available in categories of Vision, Hearing, Mobility, and Cognitive.

Apple’s Developer site provides a comprehensive set of tools for developers to use their Accessibility guidelines to create software, stating, “Apple operating systems provide extraordinary opportunities to deliver high-quality experiences to everyone, including people with disabilities.”

This letter, packet, and disk—now over 30 years old—attests to Apple’s long-time commitment to accessibility. Back in 1992, Apple called this division “Worldwide Disability Solutions.” This mailing was sent to education customers with a welcome letter, an information packet, and a 3.5-inch disk with a database of “Macintosh Disability Resources.” The disk contains “up-to-date information on the entire range of assistive hardware products for Macintosh computers.”

The aspirational welcome letter reads:

At Apple Computer, we have always believed that with a good idea and a lot of determination, anyone can do just about anything.
That’s the inspiration behind our company.
It’s the inspiration behind the computers we make.
And it’s the inspiration behind the people at Apple who are working to change the way the world understands disability. And what it means to be disabled.
Apple’s Worldwide Disability Solutions Group was formed in 1985. Our principal focus then, as now, was the individual. Young and old. His needs. Her wants. His dreams. Her imagination.
Technology, of course, was important to us, too. But our computers have always been secondary. People have always mattered most. Especially people who live with a label.
These are the people who, every day, tell us how Macintosh computers are helping them to express themselves. In words. In letters. In music. In pictures. In numbers. In whatever ways that matter to them.
These are the people who are now living their lives out loud. Or quietly. It’s their choice.
And that, in the end, is the point. Our technology. Their choices. Just as it should be.

Sources: Apple (Accessibility, Developer)