Today, we kick off the 13^th annual Microsoft Ability Summit, a day devoted to the conversations that can advance the way forward for accessibility and incapacity inclusion. This yr, Microsoft senior leaders together with CEO Satya Nadella, and coverage leaders equivalent to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, will be part of us on the summit, together with 20,000 attendees from 100 international locations and the assistance of over 70 presenters, to think about and start the subsequent steps in the direction of the way forward for accessible inclusion. And there’s rather a lot to speak about this yr!

What’s new at this yr’s summit?

Let’s begin with know-how. Accessibility at Microsoft spans each side of our product portfolio from software program to {hardware} and companies like AI and is a part of our firm tradition. This yr, we’ve a variety of latest and thrilling accessible applied sciences to speak about, together with:

• New adaptive equipment: Today, we’re saying we’re extending the customizable 3D printed attachments presently obtainable for the Microsoft Business Pen and Microsoft Classroom Pen 2 to our present Surface Pen later this yr. The 3D-printed grips are printed by way of Shapeways and supply new methods for customers with restricted mobility to grip and use the pens and assist their creativity and productiveness on their Surface gadgets.
• ‘Accessibility Assistant’ in M365: As simple as checking spelling and grammar, at the moment we’re saying new Microsoft 365 “Accessibility Assistant” to assist creators produce extra accessible content material. These assistants supply higher defaults, real-time remediation and clear steering to stop and proper accessibility points. With the latest addition of accessibility checker in Visual Studio, creating inclusively is now simpler for each creators and builders.
• Microsoft Translator: New languages! Microsoft Translator has at the moment launched 13 new African languages, together with Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. Microsoft Translator now helps speech-to-text capabilities in 125 languages and lets customers have real-time multi-language conversations, translate menus and avenue indicators, web sites, paperwork and extra, making know-how extra inclusive for many who are deaf or laborious of listening to all over the world.
• New Inclusive Design for Cognition Guidebook: Launched a brand new Inclusive Design for Cognition Guidebook to assist construct merchandise for folks with numerous cognitive talents.
• Azure developments: Two bulletins leveraging the Azure platform:
  • Seeing AI: Microsoft’s Seeing AI app makes use of the facility of Azure and AI to empower blind and low imaginative and prescient to navigate the world round them. We launched a brand new Seeing AI collaboration with Haleon and added over 1500 merchandise to the Seeing AI code library. In addition, Seeing AI launched a brand new Indoor Navigation feature, permitting somebody who’s blind or has low imaginative and prescient to independently navigate by way of a constructing by following spatial audio cues.
  • LinkedIn: Today, greater than 40% of LinkedIn posts embody at the very least one picture. LinkedIn is including computerized alt-text descriptions and captioning to their platform leveraging Azure Cognitive Services for imaginative and prescient.
• Windows 11: We just lately shared improvements to Windows 11‘s built-in display screen reader, Narrator, to assist extra Braille shows, together with three new Surface displays from HumanWare. Narrator can now work together seamlessly with accessible equipment and the voice access performance is out of preview, enabling speech navigation entry with Microsoft apps all through Windows 11.

Accessibility and AI

AI has been a giant matter this yr as we discover ourselves at a historic intersection of alternative and accountability to the world round us. AI has the potential to boost human cognitive talents in pondering, reasoning, studying and communication, however the evolution of AI additionally comes with nice accountability and should incorporate and tackle a broad vary of various human wants, limitations, capabilities and experiences.

Microsoft is specializing in Responsible AI, with core ideas of improvement particularly targeted on accessibility and incapacity inclusion – construct accessibly, embody incapacity consultant knowledge and innovate. These ideas and Responsible AI work in live performance to speed up accessibility.

Increasing consultant knowledge can also be essential to this course of. Last yr, Microsoft introduced the Speech Accessibility Project, a cross-industry partnership with the University of Illinois, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft to create the various speech knowledge wanted to make voice recognition know-how extra inclusive and helpful for folks with a variety of various speech patterns.

At Ability Summit, we will likely be speaking concerning the potentialities with the new AI-powered Microsoft Bing. From planning an accessible journey to creating writing accessible code simpler, we’re simply at the start of the probabilities of what AI can supply and we’re listening and studying as we transfer ahead. Please share your experiences as you play!

Microsoft’s dedication to accessibility

Accessible know-how is a elementary constructing block that may unlock alternatives in each a part of society and empower folks throughout the spectrum of incapacity. But it’s not nearly know-how. We are dedicated to tackling the incapacity divide and studying by way of our know-how led technique with three further pillars, People, Partnership and Policy.

At the summit, we’ll discover every of those pillars together with outcomes of our accessibility partnerships with Shell and Haleon, how we will progress inclusive hiring and our work with Mentra, and the way forward for transportation coverage within the United States with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Brad Smith. These are only a few examples of how, by working collectively throughout these pillars, we will improve consciousness and utilization of accessible know-how, develop skilling and hiring alternatives, and advocate for insurance policies that advance accessibility as a elementary proper.

I stay up for the essential conversations we’ll have at this yr’s summit and hope all of you’ll be part of us. Keep your concepts and suggestions coming, and for those who want any technical assist, keep in mind that Disability Answer Desk is right here to assist you.

Tags: Accessibility, AI, AI for Accessibility, Azure, M365, microsoft translator, seeing AI