Microsoft Accessibility’s cover photo
Microsoft Accessibility

Microsoft Accessibility

Technology, Information and Internet

Redmond, WA 3,400 followers

Making accessibility easier for everyone. Responsible Innovation. Built-In Accountability. Collective Impact.

About us

Our goal is to make accessibility easier for everyone. We are committed to driving responsible innovation and advancing shared progress so that accessible, trusted AI benefits everyone.

Website
https://microsoft.com/accessibility
Industry
Technology, Information and Internet
Company size
10,001+ employees
Headquarters
Redmond, WA
Specialties
Accessible Technology, Accessibility Training, and Inclusive Innovation

Updates

  • Our 4th This Is My Copilot story is here. This October, we’re sharing how Microsoft employees with disabilities are using Copilot in their everyday work, helping others see what’s possible and how simple it can be to get started. Check out Chris's story and follow along for a new video each week as we celebrate NDEAM.

    An accessibility architect. A complex challenge. A faster way to turn insight into action.  This National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we’re celebrating the impact Copilot is having in the disability community with a video series called “This is my Copilot.” This is the 4th video in our series spotlighting Chris Sano, Accessibility Architect for Microsoft Teams, whose experience as a Deaf person helps inform the experiences he builds.  Check out the video to learn how Chris uses Copilot to connect what he learns about how people experience Teams with the code behind the product, turning accessibility insights into practical improvements. Work that he says once could have taken days can now take 10 to 15 minutes.  After learning about Chris’s story, consider: what could you build if you had more time to investigate, learn and create?  #NDEAM #Accessibility #MicrosoftCopilot #DisabilityInclusion

  • It’s Training Tuesday! This week, we’re excited to share five new videos highlighting accessibility at LinkedIn, now available on the Microsoft Enable YouTube channel. See how accessibility shows up across the LinkedIn experience. These short videos highlight practical features and practices designed to help more people participate, connect, and engage. Explore features including Dark Mode, Immersive Reader, alt text, video captions, and disability and accessibility skills, and learn more about the ways accessibility is built into the LinkedIn experience. Explore the Accessibility at LinkedIn playlist: https://lnkd.in/gh5zzeuR A huge thank you to Donny Gabai and Rae Hinton for creating these videos and to Amyn Thawer for sharing the Designing for Everyone article. #Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #TrainingTuesday #LinkedIn #Microsoft

    • Flower backdrop imagery with the text:  National Disability Employment Awareness Month, LinkedIn + Accessibility = Opportunity, Designing for everyone
  • It’s Training Tuesday!   Every Tuesday, we’ll spotlight free trainings that can help you learn, grow, and build with accessibility in mind.   This week, we’re highlighting two Microsoft Copilot trainings designed for screen reader users: -Copilot in Excel: Learn how to use Copilot with a screen reader to understand and analyze data, create and edit workbooks, and work with formulas, tables, charts, PivotTables, and more. -Copilot in Classic Outlook: Learn how to use Copilot with a screen reader to summarize and prioritize email, draft and refine messages, ask questions about Outlook information, and prepare for meetings.   A huge thank you to the National Federation of the Blind, Jonathan Mosen, MNZM and Priya Sharma for helping make these resources possible.   Explore the trainings: Use Microsoft Copilot in Excel with a screen reader: https://lnkd.in/dw_Y5SaK Use Microsoft Copilot in Classic Outlook with a screen reader: https://lnkd.in/d6-kvwWT   Follow Microsoft Accessibility for a new Training Tuesday feature each week. #TrainingTuesday #MicrosoftAccessibility #Accessibility #MicrosoftCopilot

    • National Disability Employment Awareness Month, AI Skills + Accessibility =Opportunity.  AI Training for people with disabilities.
  • Over the weekend we celebrated the 14th annual Gleason Gras and Team Gleason’s work to support connection, independence and possibility for people living with ALS.   Congratulations to Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Head of Microsoft’s Trusted Technology Group and a Team Gleason board member, on receiving the Team Gleason Enduring Impact Award for her leadership and support of the ALS community.   We’re proud of our continued partnership with Team Gleason and excited about its Voice Preservation Dashboard, designed to help people preserve their voices and explore personalized voice options, including Microsoft Custom Voice. Together with Team Gleason and partners like Tobii Dynavox, we’re working to bring those voices into everyday communication, shaped by the people who use them. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gPqQNFvr #NoWhiteFlags #TeamGleason #Accessibility

    • A small group of people standing around Steve Gleason and his wife Michel at a past Team Gleason Game Changer event with a red carpet. Jenny Lay-Flurrie and others from Microsoft stand around them.
  • Our second This Is My Copilot story is here. This October, we’re sharing how Microsoft employees with disabilities are using Copilot in their everyday work, helping others see what’s possible and how simple it can be to get started. Check out Jamie’s story, and follow along for a new video each week as we celebrate NDEAM.

    An attorney. An idea. A new way to build; Meet Jamie Dean, who is using Copilot to turn ideas into solutions through vibe coding. For National Disability Employment Awareness Month, our 2nd video in our Copilot series celebrating people with disabilities putting AI to work in practical, personal ways. Watch Jamie’s story—and consider: what would you build? #NDEAM #Accessibility #MicrosoftCopilot #DisabilityInclusion Jamie Dean Courtney G.

  • AI skills are quickly becoming essential to getting and keeping a job. Access to those skills is not yet equal. This NDEAM, we are releasing two new trainings, co-designed with the people who will use them. ✅AI for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities • Planning, organizing, and managing schedules • Workplace communication and checklists • Making dense information easier to understand • Privacy and safety: what to share, what to keep private Link: aka.ms/AIforIDD ✅AI for Job Coaches in Supported Employment • Stronger preparation and consistency • Practical guidance on privacy • Support for employee independence • AI supports human judgment, it does not replace it Link: aka.ms/AIforJobCoaches When accessibility and AI come together, we expand opportunity. Share these resources with your teams, networks, and the people you support. Thank you to the self-advocates, job coaches, and direct service professionals who shaped this work, and to National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), National Down Syndrome Congress, IPSE Association, and Syracuse University's Center on Disability and Inclusion. And to the organizations advancing supported employment around the world: Wise, Policy Connect, BASE (British Association for Supported Employment), Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC), and Ready, Willing and Able | Prêts, disponibles et capables Paulo De Oliveira, Rylin Rodgers, Emma Ogazuma

    • Image has a dark background with flowers and announces two free AI trainings: 

AI for People with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities

AI for Job Coaches in Supported Employement
  • National Disability Awareness Month (NDEAM) starts tomorrow. NDEAM is a reminder that talent is everywhere, but opportunities need to be accessible.

    Technology is most powerful when it adapts to people, not the other way around. October marks the start of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a moment to reflect on how far we have come and how much work remains. NDEAM began in 1945, shaped by the need to support World War II veterans with disabilities returning to work. More than eight decades later, we are still working so that people with disabilities have equal access not only to jobs, but to meaningful careers, advancement, and opportunities to lead.  The urgency is clear: in the U.S., the unemployment rate for people with disabilities remains about double the rate for people without disabilities.  After more than 20 years at Microsoft, I have seen how technology can open doors, but only when access, skills, and opportunity move forward together. Our goal is to make accessibility easier for everyone, so more people can use, build, and benefit from technology. The employment landscape is changing quickly, making relevant skills more important than ever.  That is why I am excited to share new training on the fundamentals of getting started with AI, built with and for the Intellectual and Developmental Disability community.  Find the training at: https://lnkd.in/gqZkbD4Z   This reflects a core principle: lived experience must help shape the products, training, and opportunities we create. Special thanks to National Down Syndrome Society, National Down Syndrome Congress, IPSE, and Syracuse University’s Center on Disability and Inclusion. Throughout October, I will also celebrate the talent of my Microsoft colleagues through a video series called "This is my Copilot." Each week, a colleague will share how they use AI at work to save time and create greater impact. I’ll begin with Jessica Rafuse, who uses Copilot to make planning accessible travel easier and more reliable. NDEAM is a reminder that talent is everywhere, but opportunities need to be accessible. Let’s keep building workplaces where people with disabilities can learn, grow, lead, and shape the future.  #NDEAM   #DisabilityInclusion   #Accessibility   #InclusiveEmployment   #AIForEveryone Rylin Rodgers Jessica Rafuse

  •  Accessibility moves faster when we build it together.   That was one of the strongest themes at the AT Summit in Las Vegas last week. Our Inclusive Packaging panel brought together perspectives from Microsoft, Google, Tilt Beauty, and the Arthritis Foundation, showing what can happen when different organizations share what they’re learning.   None of us solves this alone. A year after our team open sourced our Accessible Packaging Design Guide, others are building on it and sharing what they learn along the way. That exchange is how individual ideas become shared progress.   Inclusive packaging is no longer a niche consideration. It’s becoming a core part of designing experiences that are usable, intuitive, and welcoming for everyone.   This video brings those perspectives together. If you missed it the first time, it’s worth a watch. #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #AccessiblePackaging Kevin Marshall Michael Zuberbier

  • Technology works best in the classroom when educators help shape it. Microsoft is sharing five principles for AI in education, built alongside teachers, unions, and the education community. That includes educators shaping products before they ship, and teachers like Ashley Hernandez in the Bronx, whose work creating materials for students with complex communication and medical needs has helped shape the technology itself. Read the blog: https://lnkd.in/eF_SzeTQ #Accessibility #InclusiveEducation #AIinEducation

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