Web Posted on:April 13, 1999
MICROSOFT'S ACCESSIBILITY EFFORTS '99
Greg Lowney, Director of Accessibility
One Microsoft Way; Redmond, WA 98053
Whether you're a person with a disability, someone working in the rehabilitation or technology fields, or an educator bringing this technology to people around you, you are making one of the most important contributions possible. You are working to deliver technology to the people who can benefit from it. As a result, this session will focus on Microsoft's efforts to make its products, programs and services accessible to individuals with disabilities. In addition, the presenter will detail Microsoft future efforts.
To date, Microsoft has:
- Managed to build a wide range of accessibility options into every copy of Windows, Windows NT, and most recently Windows 98.
- Improved the accessibility of Office applications with better keyboard access, a customizable user interface, and improved compatibility with accessibility aids.
- Made Internet Explorer the most accessible Web browser, allowing the user to customize the way they see and interact with the World Wide Web.
- Added closed captioning to almost all of its multimedia products.
Over the last year Microsoft has:
- Released several new products that support Microsoft Active Accessibility™ technology, improving the way they work with accessibility aids. These include Windows 98, and developer products Visual J++ and Visual InterDev.
- Released SAMI, the first standard that lets anyone make multimedia more accessible by adding closed captioning for people who are deaf and audio description for people who are blind. And this works for applications and the Web.
- Established four Access Review Boards, each focusing on a specific type of disability, whose members evaluate Microsoft products and help the company identify ways to make them more accessible.
Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, has personally re-committed everyone at the company to do their part to make the company's products and services accessible. He also announced key initiatives to improve the way the company addresses these issues. He more than doubled the number of staff members working full-time on accessibility, in order to provide strong leadership within the company and throughout the industry. These employees will proactively oversee the work being done by key groups within the company, providing expertise on accessibility issues and serving as internal advocates within those product groups. Finally, he established a Director of Accessibility for the company, to be responsible for overall strategy and operations and reorganized the full-time accessibility employees as a single group to ensure continuity and focus.
Microsoft's accessibility and disability efforts are focused around four strategic objectives:
- Develop products, technologies and services that are accessible and usable by all people.
- Build relationships with the disability community to help the company better understand and respond to customer needs, and so they can understand what we're doing.
- Equip and motivate the development community to produce great accessibility solutions.
- Empower consumers with information to let them make informed choices about what to use, and make best use of the products they have.