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REDMOND, Wash. and ARLINGTON, Va. – Dec. 17, 2015 – Microsoft Corp. and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) announced they will partner on efforts to advance the accessibility of information technologies. Through the partnership, the ACB and Microsoft will work together to enable planned updates to various Microsoft products to better meet the needs of persons with visual impairments.
“To deliver great solutions for people with disabilities, accessibility must be central to our culture and an integral part of how we design and build Microsoft products,” said Rob Sinclair, chief accessibility officer at Microsoft. “By working with the ACB, we will gain valuable user insights about our experiences. This will help us deliver more powerful assistive technology as well as more inclusive and empowering experiences to help every person on the planet achieve more.”
The partnership will provide a more consistent flow of information and dialogue between Microsoft and the ACB. It better enables Microsoft to deliver on its mission of empowering every person on the planet to do more, and responds to customer requests. The response from all those involved about the renewed partnership and future work has been incredibly positive.
“Having access to information through accessible technology is critical for our members as they pursue education, employment and perform everyday tasks,” said Eric Bridges, Executive Director of the ACB. “We are pleased to build on the previous engagements we’ve had with Microsoft, and we look forward to working more closely with the teams to review and test new features and upgrades. We encourage interested parties to follow the progress of these efforts at ACB.org.”
About Microsoft Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About the American Council of the BlindThe American Council of the Blind is the largest consumer-based organization of blind and visually impaired individuals advocating for the rights of all blind people. Comprised of more than 70 affiliates across the United States, the organization is dedicated to making it possible for blind and visually impaired people to participate fully in all aspects of society.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
