Apple has released a new campaign on their YouTube channel highlighting the accessibility features on the iPad and iPhone. Among them is Carlos Vasquez , singer and drummer of Houston band Distartica. The 90 second clip shows Dino Cazares lookalike Vasquez talking about his band, hailing a ride, dicatating a post promoting their album, and checking his email using an iPhone. In fact, with the exception of a few shots where he takes out his cane and walks to a car, the ad never even mentions that he’s blind.

Carlos is the lead singer, drummer and PR manager for his metal band Distartica. Using VoiceOver, with Screen Curtain on iPhone, he can hail a ride, take a photo, and get the word out about his band’s album release while keeping his screen entirely black.

The ad is impressive because it doesn’t at any time treat Vasquez’ blindness as a handicap or a crutch. It’s evident that he and the rest of the band don’t do so either. The clip appears to be going viral, with over 201,000 views so far. Vasquez says in the ad that he’s the band’s PR manager, and while it’s not clear what led Apple to highlight him in the clip,  hell of a lot more people know who Distartica is today than they did  two days ago. It even features snippets of two songs in the clip. Check the video out below, and if you’re interested in what you hear, you can pick up DIstartica’s In Flamexs We Rise here.

https://youtu.be/EHAO_kj0qcA

[h/t Matt M.]