{"id":88177,"date":"2019-03-13T16:38:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T16:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=431786"},"modified":"2019-03-13T16:38:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T16:38:04","slug":"jenny-lay-flurrie-4-key-pillars-of-microsofts-journey-with-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/03\/13\/jenny-lay-flurrie-4-key-pillars-of-microsofts-journey-with-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Jenny Lay-Flurrie: 4 key pillars of Microsoft\u2019s journey with accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Theo<\/p>\n

Kings College Student, Theo, demonstrates a program he created with the technology behind Code Jumper as his mother looks on. Photo by Jonathan Banks.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hi folks, writing to you from Seattle and not from the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference<\/a> in sunny Anaheim as planned. Unfortunately, I won\u2019t be able to be there in person this year as a health condition is last minute preventing me from flying down. Gutted! I\u2019ve been looking forward to it for months. But no fear, there are 94 Microsofties from across the company in attendance and eager to share what we\u2019ve been up to, and more importantly, to listen, learn, and foster relationships.<\/p>\n

Since I can\u2019t be there, thought I would take the opportunity to share what I was going to cover during my presentation \u2013 which will go ahead tomorrow with some of our super stars at the helm!<\/p>\n

Each year, this event brings together folks from across the accessibility community to share knowledge and best practices in the field of assistive technology. Accessibility isn\u2019t a space where we can move the dial alone, so effective partnerships are a critical element to creating products that work better for everyone. There are some great examples of this that I want to share. As a company, we\u2019re building a partnership mindset into our DNA and into each of our four key pillars which ground us on our journey with accessibility. Enough talk\u2014here\u2019s some examples:<\/p>\n

Pillar One: People<\/h3>\n

Building accessibility into your company starts by building a culture that embraces accessibility and disability. Hiring diverse and talented people with disabilities and accessibility experts brings experiences that empower and accelerate efforts to build products that work for everyone. One of the programs we launched a few years ago is our Autism Hiring Program<\/a>. While this program matures, we are equally focused on how we share our learnings and best practices in finding talent with other companies with similar ambitions. Today, 16 companies are working together to learn and share together via the Autism @ Work Employer Roundtable<\/a>. We wanted to make it easier for folks to know how to get started, and in partnership with Disability:IN, SAP, EY, and JP Morgan Chase and the University of Washington, we\u2019ve developed a new playbook<\/a> that walks through all the top questions you may have. Do check it out.<\/p>\n

Pillar Two: Systems<\/h3>\n

To really drive the business of accessibility, you need a systematic framework; an ecosystem for how you empower folks to deliver. That ecosystem covers all aspects of the company, and supporting our customers is a key part. We have many other partnerships, such as Be My Eyes<\/a>, which last year started providing customers a direct connection to receive technical assistance from the Disability Answer Desk<\/a> (DAD), a free consumer service for Microsoft\u2019s customers with disabilities. Since launching the Be My Eyes service in 2018, and we\u2019ve already taken over 4,000 calls and customer satisfaction is at 90%. This partnership was a great step forward in providing people with disabilities effective support in the way they prefer, and is just the start of what\u2019s possible down the line. We\u2019re also excited to announce that tomorrow DAD will be launching Twitter support in five markets. Customers will now be able to send us a direct message via Twitter for technical assistance through the DAD support page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pillar Three: Product<\/h3>\n

When you combine an inclusive culture with an ecosystem that empowers people, and you do it in partnership, you\u2019re set up to create game-changing products that work for everyone.<\/p>\n

Windows 10:<\/strong> We are looking forward to meeting users to get feedback about the latest accessibility improvements and to share what\u2019s coming later this year. And yes, there are announcements for Narrator, including support for Chrome. Narrator is also getting new Home Page that makes it easier to find the User Guide, Quick Start tutorial, new settings to personalize your experience, and links to provide feedback so that we can continue to focus on the features that matter most to users. Narrator is also getting improved reading functionality; it is more efficient (less verbose), more natural and more responsive with apps like Outlook. It will also see additional support for the latest translation tables and braille displays.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also building on the success of larger text options<\/a> by adding larger pointers. Users can make their pointer easier to see by making it larger and adding a custom color \u2013 I recommend red. We\u2019ve also polished \u201ccenter mouse mode\u201d in Magnifier to make your pointer find the center of your display. The team is very proud of its \u201cbuttery smooth\u201d performance!<\/p>\n

Office 365:<\/strong> Our enthusiastic partners are embedded in every part of our design process\u2014from concept testing, to post-launch feedback from users leveraging the Disability Answer Desk \u2013 a number of experts have helped to build an accessible-by-design product that we hope makes it easier for digital inclusion to be part of your organization\u2019s digital transformation.<\/p>\n

The ATHEN<\/a> group played a particularly crucial role in the development of the new and simplified ribbon<\/a> found at the top of every Word document and OneNote notebook. The simplicity of the new simplified ribbon was designed to allow screen reader users to more easily find the commands they are looking for. Turns out, it is an easier experience for everyone!<\/p>\n

Another important advancement is with our Accessibility Checker. We have updated the rules for accessibility checker<\/a> to reduce false positives making accessibility even easier to achieve to empower everyone. In addition, you can now \u2018check as you go\u2019 by letting the accessibility checker keep an eye on your document while you\u2019re building it. This provides an at-a-glance reminder in the status bar when issues exist in the document, and a 1-click action to investigate recommendations.<\/p>\n

AT Partnerships: <\/strong>Our assistive technology partnerships are critical to ensuring we can truly empower people with disabilities. We are passionate about our first-party tools, but also passionate about empowering the ecosystem at large. We\u2019re successful not only when we build ourselves, but when we empower others to build as well. A few examples include Eye Tech Digital Systems<\/a>, which integrates with the built-in eye-tracker on surface; Dolphin Computer Access\u2019 GuideConnect<\/a>, a talking digital assistant; and InsideVision\u2019s InsideOne<\/a>, a tactile tablet with an integrated braille keyboard. These are just a few examples, and we\u2019d like to say a huge thank you to our partners for their ongoing collaboration to push the boundaries of assitive tech.<\/p>\n

Accessibility Insights:<\/strong> We also have great news for developers with the open sourcing of Accessibility Insights \u2013 a tool that helps developers find and fix accessibility issues in their code. Accessibility Insights offers developers the ability to run FastPass and identify common accessibility issues early in the dev cycle and provides tips on how to fix. In addition, we partnered with\u202fDeque Systems<\/a> to add Windows platform support to the axe accessibility rules engine<\/a>. \u202fNow developers can test their code in development using a common, unified approach. I really encourage you to learn more about Accessibility Insights by checking out Keith Ballinger’s latest blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pillar 4: Innovation\/Future<\/h3>\n

Lastly, what we crave: innovation. It motivates, inspires and drives us. Building solutions with and for people with disabilities by harnessing so much of the knowledge we have across the industry and working in partnership with the community to ensure what we built has impact and purpose. Two projects that epitomize this:<\/p>\n

Seeing AI:<\/strong> Designed for the blind and low vision community, this research project and free mobile app harnesses the power of AI to describe people, text and objects. The team\u202fannounced\u202fnew<\/a> features and functionality inspired by feedback and recommendations provided by the Seeing AI user community. These updates are all live today \u2013 check them out!<\/p>\n