Many of your ideas related to one type of disabilty. However many people experience multiple disabilities and the products mentioned don’t seem to take this into consideration. Even this like for those experiencing heating impairments. You are using written captioning. Many people who are profoundly deaf struggle with the written word and would benefit from signing being incorporated into any technology they use. Also those who use their eyes to access technology, this is phenomenal but again many people will struggle with this because of stigmatisation etc or the pupils just not being picked up properly. What is the solution then?. My own son has tried Tobii eyegaze and when he was young it seemed to be the perfect solution but whe. He trialled it a few years ago it just did not work and he had to revert to micro dot system. Can this be incorporated into your software usage. Also conner is also deaf so how do the solutions for deafness work with physical access issues?

First of all,thanks to Microsoft for coming up with Eye Control accessibility feature. I am working on using this with my autistic son who is currently using RPM techniques (Rapid Prompting Technique) to communicate. Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c05Qq5WQew

Here are some suggestions that could help try and adopt for kids with autism.

Please provide keyboard customization including
1) Keyboard with fewer options: Initial display could have options of A-I, J-R, S-Z or Numbers; Upon selection display the corrsponding limited set of keys.
Ex: https://growingkidstherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GKTC_Black_Set-of-3-Stencils.png
https://growingkidstherapy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GKTC_Stencils-All.png
2) More dwell time options (time input?)
3) Option to eliminate predictions on the keyboard (This could distract autistic kids).

I have been using word prediction software for over two decades, have beta tested, and had an article published on it's appropriate use.

It was always taken for granted by myself and friends who also have CP never questioned it’s future. It always worked in ANY active application, something taken for granted.

Now, with the advent of the "sandboxing" of applications, use of word prediction is hit and miss. As I only have very limited use of speech recognition and a very slow keyboard rate, this is deeply concerning.

Microsoft, you know that WordQ 5 and Soothsayer are the big players in word prediction. Please let their development teams have code, restoring access to any active application, and full access to applications for those dependent upon word prediction.

Thank you.

People who see badly have basically two problems: seeing objects on the screen poorly and distinguishing colors badly. Windows 10 only cares about the second aspect by facilitating the enhancement of contrast, but it does not make it easier for users to see interface elements well. All visible objects in Windows 10 are too "flat" and there are almost no visual differences when they are selected or receive focus. The interface elements have no volume and this forces people with visual disabilities to make a great visual effort to distinguish them.

Users who see little should be able to easily identify interface objects. For example, they should be able to easily differentiate the active window thanks to the color of the caption, the edge of the window, etc. The same goes for the other interface controls (icons, buttons, lists, etc.).

New tools to increase contrast (high contrast themes, filters, etc.) do not help with this problem. Daily I support people who have a lot of problems with this in Windows 10 and I can do almost nothing for them.

When will Windows have the historic "Window properties" control panel again? There are third-party tools that access the registry to do so but do not work properly as they finally corrupt the user profile ...

I was really moved by the Adaptive Controller campaign. It is so amazing to see a company pushing the boundaries and making their product more inclusive.

I don't know anyone in my personal life who needs this device but I wanted to reach out and ask if you've thought about 'sponsored devices' or creating a program that allows people to purchase a device for a person who needs it. Perhaps continuing the organizational partnerships you've already established to help get the devices to the right people?

I'm not sure this is the right channel to start this discussion but I had a hard time finding contact information.

Hello

I would like to take the opportunity to say thanks for a wonderful event - for the first time in living memory I have felt "included" or "equal" with the introduction of captions to help me with my deafness.

Well done Microsoft and well done Jenny Lay-Flurrie for her presentation this morning in London.

I am now full of hope for my future ... I do realise career wise there are so many barriers to overcome but feel with Microsoft by my side supporting me there is a future - captioning on skype - is awesome - can the same captioning software be used for voice conferences via an app on mobile phone ? Would be awesome and give independence.

Microsoft should consider purchasing the ZoomText and JAWS divisions of Vispero in order to integrate them into the Microsoft accessibility team. These divisions of Vispero already produce software that is exclusive to Windows, and this is the next logical step in making Windows accessible for everyone. This would add a lot of talented folks to the Narrator, Magnifier, and Disability Answer Desk teams.

There would be no more need for teams from Microsoft and Vispero to communicate back and forth on accessibility issues. Everything would be done in house, similar to how Apple implements accessibility on their devices and systems. When Microsoft releases new software, it would work immediately with Narrator and Magnifier because all the folks responsible for accessibility would be working together with the same tools and software at the same time. There would be no more long periods of time in which you wait for your accessibility software to be updated to take advantage of new Microsoft technologies. Products like Microsoft Office could potentially work much better than they currently do because everyone would be on the same page at all times.

This would also be better for agencies and other organizations that currently spend thousands of dollars on this software. Everyone would save money while continuing to receive support from Microsoft, the company that knows how its software works and can provide the best technical support. Accessibility would be built into the system, so there would be no more need to install a third party tool unless someone preferred to use something like NVDA. If users wanted extra speech synthesizers such as Eloquence and/or Vocalizer, they could either be built-in or offered as a free download or for a small fee.

Please can Microsoft improve Windows speech recognition and speech recognition generally for those who can’t use a keyboard, touch screen or switch. Speech recognition plays such a low profile within Windows 10. It should be much more prominent and more of a priority.

Infuse some AI and computational cloud computing into each recognition to improve accuracy.

Windows speech recognition takes a long time to set up and accuracy is not very impressive. It is worlds apart from Nuance Dragon professional speech recognition product.

Windows speech recognition is of little practical use to people like me who rely completely on voice for emailing, sending messages, tweeting, updating Facebook, writing documents, and working.

The speech recognition market has taken a huge hit with Nuance Dragon discontinuing their Mac product. It would be great to see Microsoft stepping into this gap in the market and offer everyone, including physically disabled people like myself, a truly great speech recognition product. Aside from the Nuance Dragon product there is nothing decent on the market.

Please step up to the plate Microsoft!