Microsoft and DWP work to make technology more accessible

Accessible technology can unlock opportunities in every part of society, the firm believes

Microsoft has announced a new five-year plan to improve tech accessibility for people with disabilities.

According to Microsoft president Brad Smith, the new strategy will use the firm's productivity tools, retail presence, AI datasets and internal diversity statistics to make technology more accessible for disabled people, and to create a more inclusive workplace.

As part of the plan, Microsoft is collaborating with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to support people with disabilities. The firm will train 26,000 DWP work coaches on accessibility technologies to help people with disabilities return to work.

According to Microsoft, these coaches will be able to show jobseekers how they can use free accessibility tools in the increasingly digital workplace.

"People with disabilities represent one of the world's largest untapped talent pools, but we all need to act with bolder ambition to empower disabled talent to achieve more," said Smith.

On the technology front, the software giant wants to make its products accessible by design.

Some accessibility features that the company wishes to incorporate in Microsoft 365 include Dictate in Microsoft 365, Immersive Reader support in PowerPoint (for people with dysgraphia and dyslexia), and Microsoft Teams' high-contrast mode.

The company plans to design a new background accessibility checker, which will provide a prompt when it detects content accessibility problems across the core Outlook and Office apps.

Use of artificial intelligence in MS-Word will "detect and convert to heading styles crucial for blind and low-vision readers," and a new navigation pane in Excel will be designed to help people spot objects in spreadsheets.

LinkedIn will also roll out an auto-captioning feature for live broadcasts later this year.

For Teams users, Microsoft wants to introduce a high-contrast mode to help them access shared content using PowerPoint Live. Its goal is to reduce eye strain for users and accommodate light sensitivity with Word's Dark Mode.

"We will also empower software developers by embedding accessibility tools, prompts and AI-driven automation so that accessibility is included at the start of the development cycle," Smith added.

Microsoft says it will partner with non-profit SeeAbility in the UK and the University of Washington in the USA to develop new accessible technologies.

The company has also announced a new Low-Cost Assistive Technology Fund that will help make accessibility technologies more affordable for everyone.