Jenny Lay-Flurrie – Microsoft Chief Accessibility Officer
Today, we kick off the 13th annual Microsoft Ability Summit, a day dedicated to the conversations that will advance the future of accessibility and disability inclusion. This year, Microsoft senior leaders including CEO Satya Nadella, and policy leaders such as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, will join us at the summit, along with 20,000 attendees from 100 countries and the help of over 70 presenters, to imagine and begin the next steps towards the future of accessible inclusion. And there’s a lot to talk about this year!
Let’s start with technology. Accessibility at Microsoft spans every aspect of our product portfolio from software to hardware and services like AI and is part of our company culture. This year, we have a range of new and exciting accessible technologies to talk about, including:
AI has been a big topic this year as we find ourselves at a historic intersection of opportunity and responsibility to the world around us. AI has the potential to enhance human cognitive abilities in thinking, reasoning, learning and communication, but the evolution of AI also comes with great responsibility and must incorporate and address a broad range of diverse human needs, barriers, capabilities and experiences.
Microsoft is focusing on Responsible AI, with core principles of development specifically focused on accessibility and disability inclusion – build accessibly, include disability representative data and innovate. These principles and Responsible AI work in concert to accelerate accessibility.
Increasing representative data is also crucial to this process. Last year, Microsoft announced the Speech Accessibility Project, a cross-industry partnership with the University of Illinois, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft to create the diverse speech data needed to make voice recognition technology more inclusive and useful for people with a range of diverse speech patterns.
At Ability Summit, we will be talking about the possibilities with the new AI-powered Microsoft Bing. From planning an accessible trip to making writing accessible code easier, we are just at the beginning of the possibilities of what AI can offer and we are listening and learning as we move forward. Please share your experiences as you play!
Accessible technology is a fundamental building block that can unlock opportunities in every part of society and empower people across the spectrum of disability. But it’s not just about technology. We are committed to tackling the disability divide and learning through our technology led strategy with three additional pillars, People, Partnership and Policy.
At the summit, we’ll explore each of these pillars including outcomes of our accessibility partnerships with Shell and Haleon, how we can progress inclusive hiring and our work with Mentra, and the future of transportation policy in the United States with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Brad Smith. These are just a few examples of how, by working together across these pillars, we can increase awareness and usage of accessible technology, expand skilling and hiring opportunities, and advocate for policies that advance accessibility as a fundamental right.
I look forward to the important conversations we’ll have at this year’s summit and hope all of you will join us. Keep your ideas and feedback coming, and if you need any technical support, remember that Disability Answer Desk is here to support you.
Tags: Accessibility, AI, AI for Accessibility, Azure, M365, microsoft translator, seeing AI
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