Start with accessibility in Microsoft 365

By Rebecca Jackson

More than one billion people in the world live with a disability. While technology is frequently a tool of empowerment, for many people with disability it can be a hinderance that prevents them from having equal access to information, education, employment, and services.

Even if you don’t have a long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment, it’s likely you know someone who does. Accessibility is essential to provide equal access and dignity for people living with disability, and results in content and services that are inclusive for everyone.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) falls on the 3rd Thursday of May and is a day to raise awareness about digital access and inclusion. 11 years ago when the first GAAD event was held creating accessible web pages and documents was a lot of work and required specialist knowledge. While there is still a long way to go, it has never been easier.

To celebrate GAAD, take the opportunity to learn more about the importance of accessibility, how to create accessible experiences and how everyone can benefit from accessibility.

Learn about accessibility

There are lots of options to suit your learning style. Check out these free resources and events.

Find GAAD events in your area: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (accessibility.day)
Take a quick course: Accessibility fundamentals – Learn | Microsoft Docs
Explore Microsoft’s accessibility and inclusion technology: Microsoft Accessibility
Get help and support with Microsoft accessibility: Accessibility help & learning
Attend an Australian based Accessibility conference: A11y Bytes 2022 – A11y Bytes
Watch Microsoft’s Ability Summit on demand: Microsoft Ability Summit 2022

Create accessible experiences and make it better for everyone

With over one billion people in the world living with a disability it’s likely that you work with someone who does, and we don’t all wear a sign. The best way to help people with disabilities is to build accessibility into your every day work practices.

Content: Make your content accessible to everyone
Templates: Get accessible templates for Office
Office Apps: Check accessibility while you work in Office apps
Accessibility Checker: Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker

Learn about the simple ways you can make your documents, content, notes and meetings accessible for people with disabilities.

Outlook: Make your Outlook email accessible to people with disabilities
Word: Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities
Excel: Make your Excel documents accessible to people with disabilities
Microsoft Teams: Make your Microsoft Teams meetings, calls, and messages accessible to people with disabilities
PowerPoint: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities
SharePoint: Accessibility features in SharePoint Online
OneNote: Make your OneNote notebooks accessible to people with disabilities

Turn on accessibility features to improve your own digital experience

I have a bunch of favourite Microsoft accessibility features which I use every day to help me be more effective. I use dark mode, I increase the text size and the mouse pointer size, I use read aloud and immersive reader.

I’ve also used accessibility features to help me with temporary needs. Like breaking my glasses (text size), being a noisy environment (captions) or even to make notes while driving (speech recognition).

Whether you have a chronic disability or a temporary disability there will be accessibility features to benefit you.