{"id":124052,"date":"2022-04-19T15:19:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T15:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=446030"},"modified":"2022-04-19T15:19:07","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T15:19:07","slug":"whats-new-in-microsoft-365-accessibility-intelligent-tools-to-support-neurodiversity-in-the-hybrid-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/04\/19\/whats-new-in-microsoft-365-accessibility-intelligent-tools-to-support-neurodiversity-in-the-hybrid-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s new in Microsoft 365 accessibility: Intelligent tools to support neurodiversity in the hybrid workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As we <\/span>observe<\/span> World Autism Month<\/span> this April<\/span>,<\/span> I want to highlight <\/span>several<\/span> improvements<\/span> across Microsoft 365<\/span> that help users focus<\/span> on their work and <\/span>support effective reading and writing<\/span>. These are <\/span>useful<\/span> capabilities for <\/span>everyone, but<\/span> are especially <\/span>important for <\/span>those <\/span>with<\/span> cognitive <\/span>differences<\/span> like<\/span> autism<\/span>,<\/span> ADHD, dyslexia, <\/span>and dyspraxia \u2013<\/span> a<\/span> group that<\/span>, by some estimates,<\/span> make<\/span>s<\/span> up<\/span> <\/span>as much as 40% of the population<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

H<\/span>aving been <\/span>diagnosed <\/span>with <\/span>dyslexia<\/span> early in life<\/span>, this is more than an abstract statistic to me<\/span>. <\/span>When I was younger, <\/span>I<\/span> struggle<\/span>d<\/span> wi<\/span>th tasks such as reading and writing, which made everything else more challenging. I<\/span> often<\/span> found myself gravitating away from these activities<\/span>, <\/span>fill<\/span>ing<\/span> my time<\/span> with <\/span>skiing<\/span> and playing music<\/span> instead<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As much as I tried to escape it, I eventually <\/span>realized<\/span> that reading and writing <\/span>were<\/span> going to be part of my life and I needed to develop tools to navigate. When it came to reading, one of the <\/span>hacks<\/span> I <\/span>leveraged<\/span> was to <\/span>identify<\/span> the <\/span>words<\/span> based <\/span>on <\/span>the number<\/span> of <\/span>characters<\/span>, a<\/span>llowing me <\/span>to do a <\/span>quick process of <\/span>elimination<\/span> to <\/span>narrow in on the <\/span>word<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

as <\/span>the<\/span> Office apps <\/span>have expanded their accessibility feature<\/span>s<\/span>, I have found myself be<\/span>com<\/span>ing a power user of features like Immersive Reader, Editor<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>Thesaurus<\/span>, a<\/span>llow<\/span>ing<\/span> me to stop relying on my own internal hacks and leverage technology to overcome <\/span>these<\/span> challenges. <\/span>This<\/span> has completely transformed how I get things done and <\/span>provided<\/span> a new form of confidence that I never thought I would find. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

And those tools are continuing to <\/span>improve and expand. <\/span>L<\/span>et\u2019s<\/span> take a closer look at <\/span>how recent<\/span> features<\/span> in Microsoft 365 <\/span>can<\/span> support focus<\/span> and productivity<\/span> for<\/span> neurodiverse and <\/span>neurotypical workers alike. <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we observe World Autism Month this April, I want to highlight several improvements across Microsoft 365 that help users focus on their work and support effective reading and writing. These are useful capabilities for everyone, but are especially important for those with cognitive differences like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia \u2013 a group that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[63,50],"class_list":["post-124052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-accessibility","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}