I wanted to address the recent blog post from the folks at Microsoft addressing the accessibility features they have in place and their goals for continuing to improve their products in 2016. Their goals are clear and send a powerful message:
"Our goals are to ensure that:
- People with disabilities can communicate, consume and create content on any device.
- Everyone can easily create content that is accessible for all people. "
For folks familiar with the current MS Product line and the accessibility features that are built into them, this may be unsurprising. However, from seeing the challenges that people with disabilities face when working with technology, this commitment is reassuring. While accessibility will always be a process in that it is unlikely that everyone's unique needs and challenges will ever be addressed by one product, the more major companies that join the push for Universal Design and accessibility lessen those barriers.
Some of the accessibility features that MS products include are:
- A built-in Accessibility Checker
- An easy-to-use ribbon (navigation) tool that is very similar across products (for folks switching between programs, this lessens the challenges of learning new navigation menus)
- Built-in heading and style templates that are easily customizable without losing document navigation tags
- Keyboard-enabled navigation
- High-contrast mode
And this is not a comprehensive list by any means! In my next post, I will go more in-depth into the built-in features of MS Word and how to create an accessible document. For now, thank you to the Microsoft team pushing accessibility to new heights! I look forward to seeing what 2016 will bring.
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