Now that we have a position from Applause Group that is fair, moral, and compliant with Apple's App Review Guidelines, I want to reflect on what wider lessons we might learn from this.
1. So often, blind people have had things done to us. We have advanced as a minority when we chose to demand better, from a blind man inventing a system of dots that made reading truly practical, to technological advancements, to civil rights legislation. We are more powerful than many of us realise. We will not win every victory, but one thing is for certain, the victories we are certain not to win are those we don't advocate for.
2. Perhaps I am naive, but I think the number of truly evil people in the world is very low. We're not going to further our objectives by demonising people we don't even know and assuming right from the start that they have no feelings or moral compass and can't be reasoned with. If we can try to find common ground while being clear about what is non-negotiable, it is more likely that everyone can walk away with an outcome they can live with. Most people are going to feel the stress of a decision they've taken going badly wrong. They are human. It's good to give people the benefit of the doubt until there is absolutely no alternative.
3. In my address to NFB last year, I talked about the story of the little red hen. Some of the farm animals wouldn't help the little red hen take all the steps necessary that resulted in a nice tasty loaf of bread, but they were more than happy to eat that bread once it came out of the oven with its enticing smell. And so it is that other blind people on this platform who referred to those taking this important stand as entitled whiners, and sent passive aggressive posts criticising people for keeping the discussion going, can now benefit from the work they criticised. So be it, but perhaps we need to be less inclined to join the pile on when people are striving to get an outcome that is nothing more than what Apple itself demands. To those who felt hurt by the conduct of these people, social media can be a very toxic place sometimes, but history teaches us that it is the change agents, those who took on the system and made things better, who are remembered. That is as it should be.
4. Trust is hard-won and easily lost. We can speculate about why this reversal has occurred, but I feel sure that it would not have occurred had we not made it happen by using our voices/keyboard. Applause Group has done the right thing now. What do we gain from holding a grudge? If I had never made a mistake in my life that I had to apologise for, perhaps I'd be in a position to take a different stance. But having benefited from forgiveness myself, the least I can do is extend it to others.

So, congratulations and thank you to everyone who stood up for what was right. You can be proud of your effort. It was worth doing, because our right to read is precious. Time will tell, but perhaps now we have a new ally in Applause Group.