Today we kick off the 14th Microsoft Ability Summit, an annual occasion to convey collectively thought leaders to debate how we speed up accessibility to assist bridge the Disability Divide.
There are three key themes to this 12 months’s summit: Build, Imagine, and Include. “Build” invitations us to discover the right way to construct accessibly and inclusively by leaning on the insights of disabled expertise. “Imagine” dives into greatest practices for architecting accessible buildings, occasions, content material and merchandise. And “Include” highlights the problems and alternatives AI presents for creators, builders and engineers.
Katy Jo Wright and Dave McCarthy talk about Katy Jo’s journey residing with the complicated incapacity, Chronic Lyme Disease. Get insights from deaf creator and performer Leila Hanaumi; worldwide accessibility leaders Sara Minkara, U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, U.S. Department of State; and Stephanie Cadieux, Chief Accessibility Officer, Government of Canada. And we’ll be digging into psychological well being with singer, actor and psychological well being advocate, Michelle Williams.
We’ll even be launching just a few issues alongside the way in which.
Advancing accessible expertise
Accessible expertise is essential to empowering the 1.3 billion-plus individuals with disabilities globally. With this new chapter of AI, the probabilities are rising, as is the duty to get it proper. We are studying the place AI might be impactful, from the potential to shorten the hole between ideas and motion, to creating it simpler to code and create. But there’s extra to do, and we are going to proceed to leverage each device within the expertise toolbox to advance accessibility.
Today we’ll be highlighting the newest expertise and instruments from Microsoft to assist obtain this purpose together with:
- Copilot for Windows, making accessibility simpler. Beginning late March 2024, new accessibility abilities are being enabled in Windows. Ask Copilot for Windows to launch Live Captions, Narrator and different accessibility options. More: Windows Blog
- M365 empowering creators to construct accessible content material. Including Accessibility Assistant, a set of instruments to assist creators produce accessible content material accessible right now in Insider preview for Word and sharing that Outlook and PowerPoint are coming quickly! Ales Holecek will even be sharing some examples and early analysis on neurodiversity and M365 Copilot which reduces time to create content material and shortens the hole between ideas and motion.
- Azure AI for Accessibility, right now sharing six new examples together with:
- Seeing AI is now accessible in a further 14 languages (whole 33) and will likely be rolling out the newest generative AI fashions, together with richer descriptions of photographs and chat functionality for photographs and paperwork.
- Azure AI Audio Description answer accelerator, new upcoming answer accelerator that makes use of Azure GPT-4 Turbo with Vision to explain movies for people who find themselves blind or low imaginative and prescient. WPP will likely be demonstrating how this works, and the answer accelerator is now open for sign-ups.
Technology may also assist sort out lengthy enduring challenges, like discovering a remedy for ALS (Motor Neuron Disease). With Azure, we’re proudly supporting ALS Therapy Development Institute (TDI) and Answer ALS to nearly double the scientific and genomic information accessible for analysis. In 2021, Answer ALS offered open entry to its analysis by an Azure Data Portal, Neuromine. This information has since enabled over 300 impartial analysis initiatives around the globe. The addition of ALS TDI’s information from the continuing ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) research will enable researchers to speed up the journey to discover a remedy.
We will even be previewing a few of our ongoing work to make use of Custom Neural Voice to empower individuals with ALS and different speech disabilities to have their voice. We have been working with the neighborhood together with Team Gleason for a while and are dedicated to creating certain this expertise is used for good and plan to launch later within the 12 months.
Accessibility as a basic proper
To construct inclusively in an more and more digital world, we have to shield basic rights and will likely be sharing partnerships advancing this throughout the neighborhood all through the day.
This contains:
- A dialogue with Ilene Arenberg and Tanya Harris on entry to aggressive built-in employment and financial fairness, speaking in regards to the office and truthful compensation.
- The British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) will share their work to help disabled, neurodivergent and deprived individuals within the U.Okay. to seek out and keep careers. They have been rising digital abilities utilizing Microsoft Teams and neighborhood coaching to modernize the supported employment sector.
- The Hunger Project will speak in regards to the significance of connectivity as a basis to accessibility. It is working with neighborhood companions in Malawi and around the globe to offer entry to connectivity and help for accessible areas, coaching supplies and digital accessibility.
- Rijksmuseum will talk about their partnership with the blind and low imaginative and prescient neighborhood to convey detailed textual content descriptions to over 1 million items of artwork utilizing Azure AI Computer Vision and Azure OpenAI. This video brings the expertise to life.
Next steps, accelerating your accessibility journey
All by the Ability Summit, business leaders will likely be sharing their learnings and greatest practices. Today we’re posting 4 new Microsoft playbooks, sharing our learnings from engaged on our bodily, occasion and digital surroundings. This features a new Mental Health toolkit, with suggestions for product makers to construct experiences that help psychological well being situations, created in partnership with Mental Health America. And “Building Accessible Campus,” with greatest practices from our Global Workplace Services staff, chargeable for our international constructing footprint together with the brand new Redmond headquarters campus.
Please be part of us to look at content material on demand through www.aka.ms/AbilitySummit. Technical help is all the time accessible through Microsoft’s Disability Answer Desk. Thank you in your partnership and dedication to construct a extra accessible future for individuals with disabilities around the globe.
