Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day: A Journey of Empowerment and Inclusion

Yesterday, we celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day, dedicated to amplifying the importance of making technology accessible to all. It's a powerful reminder of the impact we can have when like-minded individuals and organizations come together to drive positive change in our communities and societies.

Reflecting on the journey over the past few years, the Microsoft Asia Pacific Enabler Program serves as a testament to our unwavering commitment to empowering people with disabilities. It all began four years ago when we asked ourselves a simple yet profound question: "How can we better support people with disabilities?" This question was the impetus of the Enabler Program, aimed at helping people with disabilities gain the skills they need to thrive in a digital-first world.

The Enabler Program was inspired by our ethos of doing good for society, focusing on creating accessible technology, developing essential skills, and connecting individuals with like-minded organizations.

Initially, our ambitions seemed bold and perhaps even a bit outrageous. Though, hearing stories about resilience & achievements from people who benefited from the program were truly inspirational.   

One such story is that of Jidapa Nitiwirakun , a remarkable 21-year-old woman from Thailand who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of one. Through the Enabler Program, she learned coding, AI, PowerPoint, and Power BI. She even interned with our organization in Thailand. Today, Jidapa supports her family and works at Toyota Tsusho’s Thai headquarters, in HR as an administrative officer, leading a project to track Toyota's carbon emissions using technology developed by Microsoft. Her journey is a testament to the power of determination and opportunity. Read her story here: Equipped with AI and technology skills, women across Southeast Asia find new career opportunities.

These personal stories are supported by impressive statistics. Over 300 people have found employment through the program, more than 1,000 have gained certifications and new skills, and over 15,000 people in various organizations have completed our accessibility curriculum. The demand and impact of the program have been clear, driving us to expand our reach.

Whilst the Microsoft Asia Pacific Enabler Program started in Asia Pacific, it is now expanding globally with the Microsoft Enabler Accessibility Framework toolkit - your key to fostering inclusion and empowering people with disabilities. We are thrilled to share our pillars of technology, skilling, and partnerships to other countries, allowing organizations worldwide to benefit from our insights and toolkit. Our goal is to make a broader impact, extending beyond our initial ambitions.

In Singapore, I’m proud to share that Microsoft received national accreditation with the Enabling Mark Platinum Award from SG Enable, the principal agency for disability and inclusion in Singapore for furthering disability-inclusive employment within our organization and across our ecosystem, customers, and partners.

In Indonesia, one particularly inspiring partnership is with Mitra Netra, an Indonesian organization leveraging AI to bridge the gap between Arabic speech and text to Indonesian Braille. Their work empowers countless individuals, exemplifying the transformative potential of technology.

 Yayasan Mitra Netra (Mitra Netra Foundation), a nonprofit organization, used Azure OpenAI Service’s GPT-4 to enable its Arabic Braille Converter to convert Arabic text with harakat in image format to Arabic Unicode. The app, created by a team including non-technical staff members and a programmer who is blind, converts Arabic text with harakat to Indonesian Braille and vice versa, potentially benefiting millions of people with vision impairment.

Globally, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), we launched the newest version of Seeing AI, powered by the latest advances in AI at Microsoft. For the first time, it is now available on Android devices via the Google Play Store. With today’s Android availability, Seeing AI is now available in 18 languages, with plans to increase to 36 languages in 2024.

Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world for blind and low-vision people right from your mobile device. It supports individuals with a variety of daily tasks such as reading mail, identifying everyday products, hearing descriptions of photos, and much more.

As we continue to bridge the learning and disability divides, we believe in the power of people and organizations coming together. By leveraging technology, we can empower everyone to succeed in the world we live in.

The diversity of organizations including partners, customers, charities, NGOs, government agencies, and ministries who are on this journey with us to close the digital divide is truly impressive. We welcome new organizations joining us on this journey and are proud of those featured in our accessibility and diversity report for their progress.

Let's spread the word and welcome more people and organizations to join us. Together, we can create a more inclusive and accessible world for all.