Microsoft announces a new five-year plan globally to help bridge the “Disability Divide”, or the existing gap in terms of social inclusion for people with disabilities, further accentuated by the health emergency.
The plan focuses on three different areas: education, work and accessible technology. For over 25 years, accessibility has been at the heart of Microsoft culture, a note points out, a commitment consolidated over the years aimed at making its technologies inclusive and creating programs that can support people with disabilities, helping them to express their full potential. In fact, Microsoft has always worked to make its products and services accessible “by design”, that is, designed to be used by everyone right from the design stage so that people with disabilities can live and work like everyone else.
With this announcement, Microsoft confirms its commitment to support people with disabilities for new opportunities especially in the world of work. The plan starts today with the announcement of a new fund in the field of artificial intelligence Ai for Accessibility, which will help those who currently cannot afford it to use assistive technologies and by introducing new features within some of the most used Microsoft solutions.