Microsoft Italy announces important updates regarding theAlliance for Accessibility and Inclusionthe strategic alliance with companies, institutions and associations to develop new projects together to support Accessibility and Inclusion in everyday life and in the company, leveraging new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing.
They are now also joining the team AID, Crui and TIMwhich together with Barilla, EY, Eni, Poste Italiane, Fondazione Adecco, Gruppo Sella, Unicredit, and Valore D, which joined at the time of its foundation in 2019, are committed to pooling skills and experience to plan and implement together with Microsoft initiatives to help people with disabilities and with SLD.
Products and services “accessible by design”
“There are 12.8 million people with disabilities in Italy, of which 3.1 million with certified serious disabilities, which cause their social isolation, and an equal number are estimated to be people with specific learning disabilities – he explains Luba Manolova, Director of the Modern Workplace & Security Division -. Numbers that increase if we also consider temporary disabilities, invisible disabilities. Furthermore, 35.6% of the workforce in our country is made up of people with disabilities or with SLD who need tools and workplaces where inclusion and equity are guaranteed. Like Microsoft, we want to make an important contribution to people so that they can live and work like everyone else. We do this by working to offer “accessible by design” products and services, i.e. designed to be used by everyone right from the planning stage. With the Alliance for Accessibility and Inclusion we want to make public and private organizations aware of these issues, extend the debate to as many actors as possible, while developing concrete plans so that everyone can express their full potential thanks to digital”.
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Three spheres of action
In the coming months, the initiative provides for all the players involved to work in synergy with trade associations such as AID and ASPHI for the development of ideas and projects that start primarily from listening to the real needs of people with disabilities and with specific learning. Alliance members will also participate in a program of training sessions, hackathons in collaboration with Codemotion, meetings and sharing of best practices, with the aim of encouraging the development of projects for inclusion and for the reduction of barriers in some areas specific.
Innovation. In this area it will be possible to explore how technology can change and expand everyone’s potential. Artificial Intelligence can empower over a billion people with disabilities and dyslexia around the world with features like immersive reading, live captioning and translation service during virtual meetings with Teams, dictation tool, and voice inputs and the automatic description of visual content, which make technology more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
Education. On this front, it will be possible, on the one hand, to work with students and teachers on accessibility projects and, on the other, to enhance inclusive educational programmes. The goal is to develop collaborative and inclusive design practices capable of anticipating potential obstacles in products and environments.
Products. Respect for accessibility standards, technology must offer solutions and tools suitable for everyone. In this area it will be possible to explore new ways of developing, creating or transforming commonly used products and services, including digital ones, to make them accessible to different groups of users.