App Accessibility with Azure AI

1. AI & App Accessibility
Marvin Heng | @hmheng
www.techconnect.io

2. Agenda
• Why is it so important to look at App’s accessibilities?
• AI + App Accessibility

3. Why is it so important to look at
App’s accessibilities?

4. One billion people, or 15% of the world's population,
experience some form of disability, and disability
prevalence is higher for developing countries.
- World Bank

5. 1 out 7 persons we meet

6. One-fifth of the estimated global total, or between 110
million and 190 million people, experience significant
disabilities.
- World Bank

7. While we may have the most
perfect App design for most of the
people, but is it able to reach to all
people?

8. https://www.w3.org/WAI/

9. Why should we care and do something about it?
• Users may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to
process some types of information easily or at all.
• They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
• Users may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.
• They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow
internet connection.

10. Why should we care and do something about it?
• Users may not speak or understand the language in which the
document is written.
• They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are
busy or interfered with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud
environment, etc.).
• Users may have an early version of a browser, a different browser
entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

11. 3rd DecemberInternational Day of Disabled Persons 2020

12. "Although there are no laws requiring all apps to be
accessible to all, it doesn't mean it's not a good idea. It
just depends on what kind of company you want to
be.”
— LEWIS WIENER, J.D.

13. Web Accessibility Initiative
•Provides text alternatives for any non-text content
•Provides alternatives for time-based media
•Includes content that can be presented in different ways
without losing information or structure
•Make sure it is easy to see and hear

14. Web Accessibility Initiative
• Permits sufficient time to read and use content
• Is not designed in a way that is known to cause seizures
• Includes ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine
where they are
• Includes text content that is readable and understandable

15. AI + App Accessibility

17. Immersive
Reader

18. Shows content in a minimal reading view

19. Displays pictures of commonly used words

20. Highlights nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

21. Reads your content out loud to you

22. Translates your content into another language

23. Breaks down words into syllables

24. What proves that Immersive Reader helps people
with reading?
• A 2017 study by RTI International showed that reading comprehension
among groups of fourth-grade students improved an average of 10 percent.
Read the research.

26. Demo
Immersive Reader on Angular Web App
Marvin Heng | @hmheng

28. Things you may be interested in.
•Accessibilities of App Design
• W3C for Web Accessibility Initiative - https://www.w3.org/WAI/
• World Bank - https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disability
• Fueled - https://fueled.com/blog/improve-app-accessibility

29. Things you may be interested in.
• Immersive Reader:
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/videos/part1-intro-to-immersive-reader-overview?WT.mc_id=AI-
MVP-5003227
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/immersive-reader/#overview?WT.mc_id=AI-MVP-
5003227
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/immersive-reader/reference?WT.mc_id=AI-MVP-
5003227
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/azure/cognitive-services/immersive-reader/quickstarts/client-
libraries?pivots=programming-language-csharp?WT.mc_id=AI-MVP-5003227
• https://github.com/microsoft/immersive-reader-sdk/tree/master/js ?WT.mc_id=AI-MVP-5003227
• AI Labs@hmheng (GitHub): https://github.com/hmheng/AILabs

30. Thank You!
Marvin Heng | @hmheng