Microsoft Calls for Greater Collaboration to Harness Power of AI to Empower People with Disabilities

Microsoft India is hosting the second edition of its Accessibility Summit – Empowering for Inclusion – in Delhi on February 15 and 16, 2019 in collaboration with The National Association of the Deaf and National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEPD). The summit is a platform that brings together multiple stakeholders to spark a dialogue on inclusive technology, evangelize accessibility standards & highlight inclusive technology solutions, as well as assess policy’s role in creating an accessible India. This includes people with disabilities, their support-system, developers of assistive technologies, policymakers, CSR professionals and service-providers.

Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said that including people of all abilities in the development process adds to a nation’s social and economic progress. Their vision is to ensure that they empower them with equal access and opportunity, and strong public-private partnerships will go a long way in ensuring this. This particular summit promises to provide an ideal platform to bring together policymakers and influencers to understand the policy environment and chart a direction for making life, experiences and opportunities accessible to all, she said.

There will be a special focus this year on the role that AI and cloud technologies can play in bringing people of all abilities into the mainstream. The 2-day conference will also combine a rich mix of master classes and access to Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility resources for the developer community with a showcase of inclusive technology, titled ‘Accessibility in Action’. The showcase will feature technology-based projects from non-profit organizations, assistive technologies developed by leading technology companies, Microsoft partners as well as Microsoft solutions. This includes Deque System’s Accessibility Testing Tool; Adobe Acrobat for Accessible Documents; a Video Relay Services for the hearing impaired by Dr. Philip Ray Harper and Microsoft Office 365 for Accessibility.

Dr. Sriram Rajamani, distinguished scientist and Managing Director, Microsoft Research India said that at Microsoft, they believe there are no limits to what people can achieve when technology reflects the diversity of everyone who uses it. Cloud and AI solutions are opening up a world of possibilities, empowering people with disabilities with tools that support independence and productivity. The Summit appears to be a major step forward in advancing our efforts towards sensitizing stakeholders and partners on the business and social value of accessibility. As they continue to learn and grow, they hope to inspire other entities and organizations to build and accelerate their accessibility and inclusion programs, he said.

A. S. Narayanan, President, National Association of Deaf (NAD) said that the Summit is a reflection of changing times. It is so heartening that the discourse on digital accessibility has expanded to include the entire spectrum of disabilities. Just yesterday the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has requested all private television channels to include sign language in all programs and that is such a welcome step in the right direction, he said.

Arman Ali, Executive Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEDP), on his parts, said that just like disability is not homogenous, the accessibility solutions also cannot be homogenous. We must acknowledge the various categories of disabilities and their requirements and expectations from technologies. Platforms such as Microsoft’s Empowering for Inclusion summit spark dialogues around the need for inclusive technology and how solutions need to evolve and be inclusive of people with cross-disability. There is an urgent need of different stakeholders such as persons with disabilities, government, corporates, NGOs, to come together and work on these solutions, he said.