Too Busy to Be Blind: An Apple Engineer's Second Act
Too Busy to Be Blind: An Apple Engineer's Second Act  
Podcast: Double Tap
Published On: Sun Oct 11 2026
Description: In 2015, after twelve surgeries, Brett Halle lost his sight completely. The engineer who spent twenty years building the Mac had to learn to use it with VoiceOver. He explains Radar, why your bug report matters more than you think, and how he treated VoiceOver like a video game.This is part two of our tribute to Brett Halle, the former Apple engineer and friend of this show, who died on 1 October 2026. It was recorded with Steven Scott and Shaun Preece in July 2024.Yesterday Brett took us inside Apple. Today the story turns. His retinas began detaching, surgery followed surgery, and by 2015 he was totally blind. He was running engineering at Livescribe at the time and says he was simply too busy doing his job to deal with it. Retirement in 2017 was when he set about learning, as he puts it, how to be blind properly. Blindness became another problem to work around.He is thoughtful about accessibility inside Apple: where responsibility sits, why spreading it across every team can thin it out, and how far ahead the company plans. Then he opens up Radar, the bug system Apple engineers live out of. If it is not in Radar, it does not exist. His plea is direct: report the bug anyway. Never assume somebody else has already sent it, because the particular way you hit it might be the thing that unlocks the fix.On learning VoiceOver he is honest. For two weeks he wanted to throw his iPhone out of the nearest window. What changed was treating the software as a puzzle, giving himself time to play and explore, the way you would approach a video game. His method is the one a blind person uses in a new hotel room: walk the perimeter, find the edges, build the map.He had warm words for this community, calling us creative and smart and worth building for. The last word is his.Chapters0:00 - Remembering Brett Halle, part two0:57 - Losing his sight in 20152:05 - Too busy to be blind3:58 - Accessibility at Apple and where responsibility sits5:42 - Why Apple switched on to accessibility10:20 - Radar, the heart of Apple engineering13:18 - Why your bug report matters16:23 - Learning VoiceOver19:47 - Walking the perimeter22:31 - A creative community and building the best product ----Follow on:YouTube: https://www.doubletaponair.com/youtubeX (formerly Twitter): https://www.doubletaponair.com/xInstagram: https://www.doubletaponair.com/instagramTikTok: https://www.doubletaponair.com/tiktokThreads: https://www.doubletaponair.com/threadsFacebook: https://www.doubletaponair.com/facebookLinkedIn: https://www.doubletaponair.com/linkedinSubscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://www.doubletaponair.com/appleSpotify: https://www.doubletaponair.com/spotifyRSS: https://www.doubletaponair.com/podcastiHeadRadio: https://www.doubletaponair.com/iheartAbout Double TapHosted by the insightful duo, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece, Double Tap is a treasure trove of information for anyone who's blind or partially sighted and has a passion for tech. Steven and Shaun not only demystify tech, but they also regularly feature interviews and welcome guests from the community, fostering an interactive and engaging environment. Tune in every day of the week, and you'll discover how technology can seamlessly integrate into your life, enhancing daily tasks and experiences, even if your sight is limited."Double Tap" is a registered trademark of Double Tap Productions Inc. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.