As we rejoice innovation in accessibility at Microsoft’s Skill Summit 2025, we invite you to discover how Azure AI can improve accessibility in your services. The long run isn’t nearly eradicating limitations—it’s about constructing a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively.
When my spouse and I had our first youngster, I began seeing the world otherwise. Pushing a stroller by means of our neighborhood, I shortly realized how a lot I had taken as a right—sidewalks that all of the sudden ended, intersections with out curb cuts, pathways that have been technically walkable however not constructed for wheels.
It wasn’t only a minor inconvenience. It made me take into consideration my aged grandmother, who relied on a walker. And my mother and father, who’re lively now however received’t at all times transfer as simply as they do in the present day. Mobility and accessibility are deeply linked, and for the primary time, I noticed how infrastructure shapes our day by day experiences—whether or not we discover it or not.
However bodily mobility is barely a part of the equation. Within the digital world, there are simply as many curbs that want slicing. Web sites that don’t work with display readers. Captions that lag behind real-time speech. AI fashions that fail to grasp numerous voices. These limitations could also be invisible to many, however they create actual limitations for hundreds of thousands of individuals.
And identical to curb cuts in sidewalks, digital accessibility doesn’t simply profit one group—it makes expertise higher for everybody. That’s the place Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, and the newest improvements in multimodal AI and Accountable AI (RAI) are available in—serving to organizations reduce digital curbs and construct a world that works for all.
As we acknowledge the affect of accessibility innovation at Microsoft’s Skill Summit 2025, we encourage you to discover how AI can drive higher inclusion in your services.
The purpose isn’t simply to remove obstacles—it’s to design a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively. Listed here are a few of my favourite real-world examples.
Actual-world affect: How Azure AI is slicing digital curbs
The curb cuts of digital accessibility didn’t begin with generative AI—Microsoft has been constructing inclusive applied sciences for many years. From early display readers to speech-to-text improvements, AI has lengthy performed a pivotal position in increasing entry. However now, we’re going even greater.
Bridging the psychological well being hole with AI-powered conversations
Expertise: Azure AI
Psychological well being assist is a rising necessity worldwide, however in Kenya, the place there are solely about 100 psychiatrists for a inhabitants of fifty million, entry to skilled care is extraordinarily restricted. Monetary and cultural limitations usually hold individuals from in search of the assistance they want.
Kenya Crimson Cross noticed a possibility to bridge this hole utilizing Azure AI-powered chatbots. In partnership with Pathways Applied sciences, they developed Chat Care, an AI-based psychological well being assistant that gives steering, emotional assist, and referrals—all in English and Swahili.
This isn’t only a chatbot; it’s a lifeline for individuals who might in any other case undergo in silence. Chat Care permits customers to start out conversations about their psychological well being in a low-pressure, nameless manner, lowering stigma and providing assets which are accessible 24/7. It could actually counsel respiration workout routines, gratitude practices, and in-person companies, all tailor-made to the consumer’s responses.
And for people who find themselves deaf, arduous of listening to, or unable to talk on the cellphone, Chat Care affords text-based assist, making certain psychological well being companies can be found to everybody, no matter skill or circumstance.
Enhancing AI speech recognition for non-standard speech
Expertise: Azure AI Speech x UIUC Partnership
Voice recognition expertise usually struggles to grasp individuals with non-standard speech patterns, making it tougher for people with circumstances like cerebral palsy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to work together with AI-powered experiences.
To unravel this, Microsoft partnered with the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and fellow tech leaders to construct the Speech Accessibility Challenge—a analysis initiative to coach AI fashions that acknowledge numerous speech patterns.
By integrating this breakthrough into Azure AI Speech, Microsoft is making certain that AI-powered voice expertise works for everybody, making digital experiences extra inclusive throughout industries.
Making AI extra accessible from the bottom up
Expertise: Azure AI Foundry
With Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft has embedded accessibility into the AI growth lifecycle itself. By partnering with EY, the Azure AI Foundry now empowers neurodivergent clients, and options improved usability, lowering cognitive overload and enhancing navigation for all individuals.
In 2024, Azure AI Foundry reached a milestone for usability, reflecting suggestions from individuals with disabilities that helped enhance the platform. The updates included:
- Grouping notifications and deployment errors to cut back cognitive overload.
- Guaranteeing display readers present structured, easy-to-follow AI workflows.
- Enhancing keyboard navigation for individuals who depend on shortcuts over mouse enter.
It is a prime instance of why accessibility is about constructing higher, extra intuitive expertise for everybody.
Making accessible AI work for brokers
Expertise: Laptop-Utilizing Agent (CUA)
Microsoft’s Laptop-Utilizing Agent (CUA) in Azure AI Foundry permits AI-powered automation of digital interactions, making software program extra accessible for individuals with restricted mobility or dexterity. By permitting CUA to navigate interfaces, full multi-step duties, and execute actions by means of pure language instructions, it reduces reliance on conventional keyboard and mouse inputs.
This breakthrough enhances digital accessibility, empowering individuals who use any sort of assistive expertise. As CUA dynamically interprets UI components, it makes it simpler to navigate purposes and workflows.
Hope, motion, and shifting ahead along with Azure AI
There are days when it appears like progress is gradual. That accessibility, whether or not bodily or digital, takes too lengthy to enhance. However then I take into consideration one thing so simple as the sidewalks at my cross streets.
Not that way back, they have been fully inaccessible. However after making a name, submitting a report, and pushing the problem, these sidewalks lastly bought curb cuts simply in time for the delivery of our second youngster. It was a small repair within the grand scheme of issues, but it surely made an actual distinction.
The reality is, typically it simply takes somebody noticing the issue and taking motion. However I additionally know I say that from a spot of privilege—I had the time, the assets, and the flexibility to advocate for that change. Many individuals don’t. That’s why it’s so essential that we construct accessibility into our methods from the beginning—in order that nobody has to battle for the fundamentals.
With Azure AI Foundry, organizations can now scale accessibility quicker than ever, making the digital world extra navigable, usable, and welcoming to all. The curb cuts are being constructed—and the way forward for accessibility is extensive open.
Be part of us at Skill Summit 2025
As we rejoice innovation at Microsoft’s Skill Summit 2025, we invite you to discover how AI can improve accessibility in your services.
The long run isn’t nearly eradicating limitations—it’s about constructing a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively.