Microsoft to Kick Accessibility, Interoperability and Innovation Up a Notch

Microsoft is an integer part of a collaborative effort designed to kick accessibility, interoperability and innovation up a notch. Alongside the Redmond company are Adobe, BayFirst Solutions, Novell, HP, Claro Software, Dolphin Computer Access, GW Micro, HiSoftware, Madentec, Texthelp Systems and QualiLife. The Accessibility Interoperability Alliance is a direct result of the coalition of the companies enumerated above. The engineering working group aims to develop software, hardware and Web solutions with an increased focus on accessibility.

Rob Sinclair, director of the Accessibility Business Unit at Microsoft, explained the purpose of AIA. "Today, developers must work across divergent platforms, application environments and hardware models to create accessible technology for customers with disabilities. The AIA is an opportunity for the entire industry to come together to reduce the cost and complexity of accessibility, increase customer satisfaction, foster inclusive innovation, and reinforce a sustainable ecosystem of accessible technology products", he stated.

Via the partnership of various industry members, AIA is bound to take accessibility to the next level via a single accessibility model. In the end, users with disabilities will be able to benefit from superior navigation across the barriers of the digital environment. The unique development model created under the AIA umbrella will be shared with all developers. In the first stages of the initiative, efforts will be poured into enhancing keyboard access, building interoperability with the accessibility application, programing interfaces, increasing UI Automation and mapping Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite via UI Automation.

According to Microsoft, AIA will initially center around: "developing a set of keyboard shortcuts to provide consistent behavior to users of assistive technology products in any Web browser. Modifying and/or extending existing accessibility models (Microsoft UI Automation, IAccessible2 and others) to improve the interoperability. Adding features and capabilities to support additional rich document scenarios, address new Web scenarios and more. [And] designing the mapping of rich Web accessibility information through UI Automation to ensure maximum value for AT products", Microsoft added.