Menu bar accessibility severe issue

Question

Dear support team
I am a visually impair person (20/100) vision. I am working as software architect since 27 years in the Windows and Linux world. A year ago I bought an AirPort and I fall in love with Apple product best quality: "Always work like a charm"!
So 5 months ago I decide to make the jump and I bought an iMac 27", i7, 16GB, 2TB. As expected, everything works wonderfully until I realize the terrible mistake Apple techies made regarding accessibility that even Microsoft fixes years ago.
The menu bar has NO descent support at all for accessibility.
Let me explain the four fold problem:
1) The font size cannot be adjusted, so I must memorize menu item position or stretch my neck to see what I am selecting.
2) Being 50 years old, I am wearing progressive lens, so only the bottom part of the lens are adjusted for reading, this implies that I shall stretch my neck even more to be able to see something on the menu bar.
3) I am from Quebec Canada, so I use both English and French languages. However, the "language icon" at the right end of the menu bar is so small that they look identical.
4) When you change the size of the mouse pointer, its positioning becomes offseted.
I am using the mouse zooming functionality to work around these problems, but believe me, this is far from being appropriate. Changing the resolution is no a solution too.
You have to realize that visually impair people are buying large screens with the believing that they will be able to adjust font / icon size so everything will work well and they will have good screen real-estate. Also don't forget that your earlier Apple adaptors are now over 40's and they wear progressive lens too.
Now how to fix the problem:
1) Use the same magnification effect on the menu bar as the one on the Dock.
2) Allow user to change the language icon or at least its colour.
3) Make the menu bar font size adjustable.
4) Allow the user to move the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.
5) Fix the mouse pointer offset issue, this is just a question of taking the mouse pointer size into account in the position calculation.
I perfectly understand that allowing the user to change the font size of the menu bar (which is the system font size) may have side effects, same for moving the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. However, there is NO excuse to not provide magnification effect on menu bar and language icon configuration.
Not providing these features are just like not providing access ramp to public buildings and saying: There is always someone passing by that will help the rare "cases" who have to deal with the situation. If it is not enough, in Quebec, it is forbidden to use very small fonts in legal documents!!!
This shall not be seen as a legal or business issue but rather an ethical issue exactly like the access ramp. You, Apple, shall do your best to give equal access to your products independently of physical conditions.
I am sure the people who create these wonderful products at Apple will see this as a very interesting challenge to make MAC much more accessible to roughly 30% of the population, people over 40s and visually impair people.
Best regards
PS: If anybody knows which door to knock to get this issue fixed, let me know; the normal did not work at all.

Answer 1

If you wish to contact Apple, the only way to do so is via Apple's Feedback page. We are just other Apple customer like yourself. We can offer suggestions and workarounds, but be can't move the menu bar.
ChatBlond wrote:
1) The font size cannot be adjusted, so I must memorize menu item position or stretch my neck to see what I am selecting.
You are using Universal Access aren't you? There are a number of ways to zoom in on the screen (including the menu bar) or have it spoken to you. Plus, most commands have a ⌘ (command) key equivalent. If the built-in Universal Access features are insufficient, you could use Automator to create a whole suite of shortcuts to commonly-performed operations.
3) I am from Quebec Canada, so I use both English and French languages. However, the "language icon" at the right end of the menu bar is so small that they look identical.
That is just for keyboard input. What is your keyboard's layout? If it is in English, I would say just use the shortcuts for French diacriticals. option e for accent aigu, option ` for accent grave, option i for circonflexe, option u for umlaut, and option c for cedille. If your keyboard in is French, the shortcuts should still work for circonflexe and umlaut. I do a fair amount of work in French and I would get really confused if I changed by keyboard.
4) When you change the size of the mouse pointer, its positioning becomes offseted.
Are you doing this through Universal Access? I don't really understand what you mean. It seems to work fine. There is a "hot point" on the cursor and it seems to be at the same (relative) place regardless of the cursor size.
I am using the mouse zooming functionality to work around these problems, but believe me, this is far from being appropriate. Changing the resolution is no a solution too.
Have you tried this hint to enable Resolution Independence? It is supposed to be buggy, but it is what you are asking for.