Accessibility starts with listening, and sometimes the most inspiring ideas come from the youngest voices. Last week in Innsbruck, Austria, Microsoft had the privilege of joining MED-EL for IDEASforEARS—a global children’s contest where children, many with a personal connection to hearing implants, share ideas to improve life with hearing loss. Families from around the world gathered to present their innovations, learn from one another, and celebrate what’s possible. We were proud to support the event with Surface Go devices, helping teams communicate across languages and hearing needs. Watching these young innovators connect, exchange ideas, and build understanding across cultures was a powerful reminder: inclusive innovation is not just about technology. It is about making space for everyone to participate. Congratulations to all the winners.👏 Special thanks to the team that made this possible. MED-EL: Carolina Klotz, Patrick D'Haese, PhD, MBA, Jennifer Robinson, geoffrey ball, Emre Coskun, Hans-Jürgen Seifen, Hakan Erbas and many others from MED-EL. Microsoft: Juergen Purin, Ingrid Heschl, Chris Bubel, Laurie Allen, Sabine Pfriemer-Zenz #Microsoft #Accessibility #Inclusion #AIforGood #IDEASforEARS
Microsoft Accessibility
Technology, Information and Internet
Redmond, WA 2,276 followers
Making accessibility easier for everyone. Responsible Innovation. Built-In Accountability. Collective Impact.
About us
Our goal is to make accessibility easier for everyone. We are committed to driving responsible innovation and advancing shared progress so that accessible, trusted AI benefits everyone.
- Website
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https://microsoft.com/accessibility
External link for Microsoft Accessibility
- Industry
- Technology, Information and Internet
- Company size
- 10,001+ employees
- Headquarters
- Redmond, WA
- Specialties
- Accessible Technology, Accessibility Training, and Inclusive Innovation
Updates
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At Ability Summit 2026, leaders Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Neil Barnett, Clint Covington, Ed Summers, and James Hunter reinforced what matters most: designing with people with disabilities from the start. When you build with the community, you create better systems for everyone.
As AI moves from possibility to reality faster than ever, how do we ensure technology works for everyone? We design with people with disabilities from the start. People with disabilities have helped shape some of the world's most transformative technologies, from closed captions to voice control. Today, that same spirit of innovation is helping define how AI is built, adopted, and used across industries. At Ability Summit 2026, our leaders shared their commitment to listening, learning, and building together. https://lnkd.in/eicvB93z
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Building more inclusive pathways to employment. At Goodwill NYNJ, accessibility and employment go hand in hand. Through its nonprofit staffing arm, GoodTemps, the organization helps people with disabilities and others facing barriers to employment find meaningful work. When resume formatting slowed down placements, Goodwill partnered with Microsoft through Hack4Good to co-create Resume Builder, an AI-powered tool built with disability experts. The impact: more than 800 resumes processed, and less time spent editing documents, giving staff more time to directly support job seekers. Accessibility isn’t just about technology. It’s about creating tools that help more people fully participate and thrive at work. Read the story: https://lnkd.in/gxC3_gGz Watch the video: https://lnkd.in/dXbqCePw
How Goodwill’s AI-powered Resume Builder supports job seekers with disabilities
https://www.youtube.com/
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What a week at Microsoft Build! More than 1,000 people visited the Microsoft Accessibility booth, with 700+ diving into demos and conversations around accessibility and AI. Attendees also cleared more than 2,500 accessibility bugs using GitHub’s Accessibility Scanner. But the biggest takeaway was the momentum. People brought coworkers back to the booth, shared their accessibility journeys, and some even fixed website issues overnight after trying the scanner on day one. Build reinforced something we’re hearing across customers and partners: accessibility is moving from awareness to action, and accessible AI is helping accelerate that progress. Huge thanks to everyone who made this possible, especially Aaron Gustafson, Michelle Louie Christensen, Jessie Lorenz, Carie Fisher, the GitHub team, and everyone who helped bring the experience to life. #MicrosoftBuild #Accessibility
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Day one of Microsoft Build is in the books, and the conversations at the Access for All booth have been incredible. There’s so much energy around how AI is reshaping accessibility. From GitHub’s Accessibility Scanner to new ways developers are building inclusion directly into their workflows, it’s exciting to see accessibility becoming part of the product development process from the start. The best part has been the conversations, hearing your stories, perspectives, and the ways inclusive technology is shaping the work you do every day. If you’re at Build this week, stop by the Access for All booth. We’d love to connect and keep the conversation going. #Accessibility #MicrosoftBuild #GitHubAccessibilityScanner
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Last year, we shared Forrester research on the growing role of assistive technology in the United States. Today, we’re excited to make these insights available globally across seven regions. One of the clearest takeaways: assistive technology isn’t niche. It’s becoming mainstream. Who doesn’t zoom in on their devices, use dark mode, or captioning? So many of us do! More than 70% of consumers say assistive technology is essential to their daily work, whether or not they have a disability. As technology evolves, expectations do too. Technology must work for everyone. This doesn’t happen by default. It happens by design. When we design with and for people with disabilities, we create better technology for everyone. Explore what this means for your market. Links to the seven regional studies are included at the end of this global report. Review the latest research: https://lnkd.in/ghKmkXvQ
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A year ago at Ability Summit 2025, we shared our Accessible Packaging Design Guide and made it free for anyone to use. What’s happened since is bigger than anything we could have built alone. Watch what happens when an industry moves together 👇 Amazon. Google. The Coca-Cola Company. ArtCenter College of Design. Tilt Beauty. Designers, engineers, and brands who are often competitors are now at the same table, sharing what works, and raising the bar for every customer who opens a box. This is the power of partnership. We can’t do this alone, and we shouldn’t. When we design for accessibility, outcomes improve for everyone. Grateful to every partner, advocate, and disability-led voice shaping this work. The momentum is real, and we’re just getting started. #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #AbilitySummit #AccessiblePackaging Neil Barnett https://lnkd.in/gusZRn_s
When we shared our accessible packaging guidelines, we made them free for anyone to use. What happened next exceeded expectations: companies across industries took that foundation and pushed it further, proving that progress accelerates when we build together. Inclusive design isn’t a feature; it’s better design for everyone.
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When barriers come down, people can show up fully and do their best work. Scope shows what inclusive innovation looks like in practice. https://lnkd.in/gT4u5uqz
Organizations like Scope show how technology can make workplaces more inclusive. Microsoft 365 Copilot helps automate administrative tasks, giving staff—especially those with disabilities—more time to focus on meaningful work and collaboration. The impact is clear: staff can contribute fully and equally. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/e9Za-C2Q
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That’s a wrap on #AbilitySummit. Thank you for being part of it! The energy, ideas, and partnership were incredible. Miss something? Want to go deeper? Session resources are now available. 👉Keep learning. Keep building, Keep pushing accessibility forward.
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Grateful to everyone who joined us for the 16th annual Microsoft Ability Summit this morning. Your voices, ideas, and partnership continue to push this work forward. As we head into GAAD, I’m excited, AI is creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make accessibility truly foundational. But it won’t happen by default. It happens because of this community showing up and building together. Proud to share what we announced and where we’re headed next. Microsoft Accessibility, Microsoft Learning, Xbox, Team Gleason Foundation, Tobii Dynavox®, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle FIFA World Cup 26™, OneCourt, GitHub, American Council of the Blind, National Federation of the Blind, Special Olympics, Teach Access, World Blind Union, DAISY Consortium, Cboard, Disability:IN, Microsoft Copilot #accessibility #AI #GAAD #MicrosoftAbilitySummit