Innovation is what we need for an accessible future - Microsoft

By Chris Barry, President of Microsoft Canada 

December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an yearly infinitesimal to bring consciousness to disablement issues, beforehand inclusion, and clasp radical of each abilities. Statistics Canada reports that 1 successful 5 Canadians aged 15 years oregon older unrecorded with 1 oregon much disabilities. Even if you bash not unrecorded with a disablement today, that tin alteration arsenic you property oregon determination done beingness stages. As Dave Dame, our Director of Accessibility says, “one day, we’ll each property into a disability.” 

The taxable of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities is “transformative solutions for inclusive development: the relation of innovation successful fuelling an accessible and equitable world.” Today, we are surviving done an bonzer clip successful past wherever the existent imaginable of exertion is revealing itself. From the motorboat of the world’s archetypal Malaria vaccine which volition prevention hundreds of thousands of lives to the instauration of self-fertilizing crops that are tackling clime alteration caput on, innovation is moving the needle connected our astir pressing challenges. 

At Microsoft, we recognize the powerfulness of exertion and however impactful it tin beryllium successful creating a much accessible and equitable satellite wherever everyone thrives. Our exertion is designed with accessibility successful caput – it is built with the disablement assemblage not for the disablement community, and we prioritize exertion that the disablement assemblage would choose to use. In October, we launched our caller Microsoft Adaptive Accessories crafted successful concern with the disablement assemblage to assistance enactment a assortment of unsocial needs and wants. Recently, we introduced motion connection view, a caller gathering acquisition successful Microsoft Teams. This diagnostic is particularly designed for the Deaf/hard-of-hearing assemblage to support interpreters and different signers beforehand and halfway connected calls. 

But our committedness to expanding accessibility goes beyond conscionable our technology. We enactment with different organizations successful the Microsoft ecosystem including partners and customers to stock what we’ve learned astir accessibility and inclusion to assistance make much opportunities and experiences for radical everywhere. This twelvemonth we joined forces with Haleon, a planetary person successful user health, to grow functionality successful the Seeing AI app to supply consumers who are blind, person debased imaginativeness oregon debased literacy levels with much accessible labeling accusation crossed 1,500 user wellness products successful the U.S. and U.K. And conscionable this month, we launched the Microsoft Accessibility Nonprofit Tech Accelerator programme to supply disability-focused nonprofit organizations with entree to endeavor exertion and grants to champion service the disablement community. 

Read beneath to larn much astir 2 impact-driven Canadian organizations wrong the Microsoft ecosystem who are promoting disablement inclusion and cultivating accessible experiences done technology. 

 SenseTech Solutions Inc.  

What primitively started arsenic a fourth-year engineering task for 2 University students to marque accessing a schoolroom easier, rapidly became a solution that could enactment disabilities communities crossed Canada. 

In 2018, Robert Ingio and Ali Raza founded SenseTech Solutions, a Toronto-based bundle institution specializing successful the improvement of virtual world simulations for persons with disabilities. Their archetypal task progressive creating a virtual world simulation for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind that could seizure the challenges that a younker with show nonaccomplishment mightiness acquisition erstwhile entering a schoolroom for the archetypal time, similar uncovering their desk. With the summation of a virtual world headset, a genitor could ‘jump in’ to the aforesaid simulation and acquisition those caller challenges done the aforesaid position arsenic their child.  

That deeper knowing and transportation betwixt genitor and kid is what sparked a speech for Robert and Ali astir the opportunities for virtual world successful accessibility. Now their virtual world solutions assistance marque e-learning accessible and interactive, facilitate occupation readiness grooming for radical with and without show nonaccomplishment and assistance the unsighted assemblage bid and make skills successful simulated high-risk environments similar thoroughfare crossing.  

“Microsoft has been a large spouse successful helping america deliver impactful and accessible bundle tools to our clients. By embedding Microsoft technologies specified arsenic Microsoft Azure and Office into our products, we person allowed our clients to engage integer contented successful an inherently accessible and user-friendly format,” says Ingio. “We look guardant to continuing our enactment with Microsoft arsenic we pioneer caller methods of accessing integer content, and further explore however exertion tin empower users with disabilities worldwide.”  

 Seleste Technologies 

Seleste is simply a Vancouver-based wearable exertion institution co-founded successful 2021 by Shubh Mittal and Smit Patel, graduates from the University of British Columbia. Shubh’s inheritance successful Computer Science and fascination for astute solid exertion is what drove him to the satellite of wearables. After looking much extensively astatine the probe and exertion down astute glasses, helium noticed that existent products connected the marketplace were constricted successful their capabilities and usefulness for radical with disabilities.  

This prompted him to consult intimately with a person named Victor who is unsighted (and is present Seleste’s Chief Technology Officer) to amended recognize the challenges of surviving with show nonaccomplishment oregon low-vision and observe what features the assemblage could payment from successful astute glasses. Victor’s feedback inspired Shubh’s ngo to marque entree to assistive exertion for radical with low-vision much affordable, done their precise ain astute glasses. 

Leveraging Microsoft’s Seeing AI technology, Seleste astute glasses diagnostic a tiny camera to present precocious features similar telephone a friend, dependable assistance and country statement to amended conscionable the needs of radical with debased imaginativeness today. The Seleste squad plans connected adding much functionalities to their glasses implicit the coming years to beforehand their affirmative interaction wrong the community.  

 “We often interrogation our visually impaired customers astir their lives and truthful galore radical person told maine that they usage SeeingAI and however it has helped them get backmost independency successful their lives,” says Mittal.  “However, they besides archer maine that having to clasp and constituent a telephone has always been a situation and limits what they tin do. We knew that our glasses solved this occupation and truthful it was ever a extremity of ours to supply Microsoft’s astonishing exertion through our glasses. I believe this concern volition springiness visually impaired radical the confidence to instrumentality backmost power of their lives and beryllium capable to tackle tasks completely by themselves.” 

Lastly, to bring consciousness to disablement issues is to perceive straight from the community. Recently we spoke with Juan Olarte, laminitis of Digita11y Accessible, astir however Microsoft’s assistive technologies helped him scope caller levels of productivity astatine location and successful the workplace. Watch Juan’s communicative here. 

More innovation similar SenseTech’s virtual world simulations oregon Seleste’s astute glasses and listening to stories similar Juan’s are needed for an accessible and equitable world. We indispensable each articulation successful the telephone for accessibility and inclusion and enactment unneurotic connected innovative solutions that tin uplift each communities and marque our nine better. 

To larn much astir Microsoft’s assistive tools and technology, visit microsoft.com/accessibility.

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