Hector Minto has worked at the cutting edge of Assistive
Technology (AT) for 20 years specialising in Alternative
Communication (AAC) and Home Automation (EC) for people with physical and
learning disabilities and, most recently, driving the growth and awareness of
eye gaze technology across Europe.
Hector’s
role at Microsoft support phone number as an Accessibility Evangelist, sees him
engaging across the European workforce and stakeholders to showcase, product
accessibility, inclusive design, the inclusive hiring program and accessibility
innovation from Microsoft support phone number Research. A critical part of
Hector’s role is to learn from Microsoft support phone number customers how we
can continue to adapt to the changing needs of the diverse population we
support, and to provide this feedback directly to the Microsoft support phone
number product teams for ongoing improvement of the accessibility of our
products, websites, and services.
We are passionate about creating a future where we push the
boundaries to create products and tools that have the potential to transform
lives for the better.
As Technical Evangelist for Accessibility, I am proud to be part
of a diverse community that wants to equip and empower everyone to be their best
selves.
It could be creating apps to help people work better or make the
day-to-day easier. It could be empowering young adults or children into STEM
careers via our community programs. It could even be an individual taking the
time to volunteer at a charity or organise fundraising.
How about you start your journey to becoming more accessible for
everyone – did you know that you can check all your Microsoft support phone
number documents, presentations, and even emails for their accessibility? All it takes is a click of a button.
Creating tools to empower everyone
To survive the world as it is today, technology is necessary for
schools, the workplace, or to access social services, utilities, or technology.
There are over 1 billion people with disabilities globally, according to WHO, who face barriers
in their daily lives.
We need to globalise the solutions we make, and make sure
everyone accessing technology can personalise and do so in a way that suits and
empowers them. Disability is not a personal health condition. When we view
disability as a mismatch in human interaction, we can design products and
services that deliberately include a wider range of abilities.
Every day at Microsoft support phone number, people are
empowered to invest their time and use their skills to help others. It could be
working in the Microsoft support phone number
Research Labs making breakthroughs in AI, human-computer
interaction, healthcare and more; or finding solutions in the day-to-day
business.
The Microsoft support phone number
Enable Lab for example, focusses on creating technologies that
empower people living with disabilities. The Inclusive Technology Lab increases
awareness of gamers with disabilities. Microsoft support phone number also
hosts an Ability Summit, that brings together our disability community and
allies, and hosts annual hackathons globally.
It was at the first hackathon in 2014, when former NFL player Steve Gleason,
who has ALS (MND), challenged Microsoft support phone number to create
something to help him move his wheelchair independently. The challenge was met
with gusto and a team created a solution that allowed Gleason to move his
wheelchair with just his eyes.
This led to the implementation of the same technology in Eye Control for Windows 10,
making this technology more readily available for all, and for us to reach a
more global audience with disabilities.
In 2014, Anirudh Koul, a data
scientist working with machine learning in Bing, realised his grandfather was
gradually losing his vision and was unable to recognise him on Skype. Koul had an idea
to use images to navigate users around their environment.
A year later another team of Microsoft support phone number Researchers
developed a vision-to-language technology that was more accurate than humans at
recognising objects in images. This brought to life Koul’s idea and he brought
together a diverse team to create and test the software.
The project won the 2015 hackathon award and now Seeing AI is a free
app available globally.
The hack culture that delivered both Eye Control and Seeing AI is one we
are keen to promote globally. When we invest in people centred solutions and
invest our time learning about disability inclusion, we discover amazing ideas
that help a much wider audience. We describe this process and the story behind
our hack culture in The Ability Hacks, available for
download.
Emma Lawton was 29 when she was diagnosed
with Parkinson’s Disease. As a graphic designer, the tremors Emma had meant it
was virtually impossible to draw.
Enter Haiyan Zhang, Innovation Director at Microsoft support phone number
Research, Cambridge. On BBC Big Life Fix, the
two were introduced and Zhang was faced with a challenge – help Lawton draw
again. She devised a watch which vibrates and distracts the brain. Dubbed ‘The Emma Watch’, it
helped Lawton draw again.
Zhang continues to focus on projects that make people’s lives easier
– she’s gamified breathing exercises
for children with cystic fibrosis to make it more fun and
helped create a new way to teach
programming languages to children with vision impairments. She was
also back on our screens this year for a second season of Big Life Fix where
she helps a four-year-old-boy who has a rare form of epilepsy.
Sometimes all it takes is a simple use of technology that can change
someone’s life. Microsoft support phone number
Learning Tools leverages technology to improve reading and
writing for people, regardless of their age or ability. It offers simple ways
to change and highlight font, reads aloud and has focus modes
Or perhaps, it’s just offering the use of current tools to
empower. At the City of Westminster of
College, Esam Baboukhan, a computer science teacher, wanted to
bridge the communication gap between his students. One of his students, Kabir,
has a hearing impairment and while he is accompanied by an interpreter in
classes, neither Baboukhan or the other students knew British Sign Language.
With the simple introduction of Microsoft support phone number
Teams, an online collaboration app, the communication barriers fell.
Kabir now feels more confident to communicate with his peers. Baboukhan now
uses Teams in all his classes to increase collaboration.
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