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Articles by Jenny Lay-Flurrie
Strengthening our approach to tackling non-consensual intimate imagery
When intimate images are shared without consent—whether real or AI-generated—the harm is immediate, deeply personal, and often long-lasting. It can affect someone’s sense of safety, dignity, and control, both online and offline. Protecting people from harms like non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) has long been a priority for Microsoft. And as technology advances, our response continues to evolve to tackle very real challenges like the proliferation of highly realistic synthetic imagery.
Microsoft’s commitment to the European Accessibility Act
On June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) becomes enforceable—–an important step forward for accessibility in the EU and around the world. It sets a new bar for digital accessibility and disability rights, enabling disabled people to fully participate in society and the economy. Accelerating technology and innovation will make it easier for everyone, including 110+ million disabled people across the EU. Microsoft has supported the EAA since its introduction in December 2015.
Microsoft Ability Summit 2025: Accessibility in the AI era
Today, we hosted the 15th annual Microsoft Ability Summit, with over 20,000 attendees from 164 countries coming together virtually to discuss the future of AI and accessibility. Microsoft has a long-standing commitment to investing in accessibility, grounded in our business model and going back over three decades from the earliest accessibility features in Windows 95 and continuing today with new hardware and software functionalities powered by AI.
Microsoft Ignite: event explores the impact of AI on accessibility
Microsoft Ignite featured several sessions focusing on the importance of accessibility in technology and the opportunities that artificial intelligence provides for disabled and neurodivergent people in the workplace. First, Nicole Dezen, chief partner officer and corporate vice president of global partner solutions at Microsoft, and Jenny Lay-Flurrie, vice president and chief accessibility officer at Microsoft, hosted a session on ‘Advancing accessibility in the era of AI’.
Disability Data: Improving Representation to Drive AI Innovation
Today, Microsoft announced a new collaboration with Be My Eyes to bring high-quality, disability representative data to help train AI systems. This work with Be My Eyes will help make Microsoft AI models more inclusive for the 340 million people in the world who are blind or have low vision and is the latest step in our commitment to build inclusive technology.
Spring forward – May gave us a month of accessibility innovation - Microsoft On the Issues
New this month There has been a lot of accessibility news this month including Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), an annual event that encourages everyone to learn and share best practices for digital accessibility and inclusion. And to think it all started with a blog post and a phone call. I had the privilege of talking with the co-founders of GAAD, Joe Devon and Jennison Asuncion, about the origin of GAAD and the potential of AI for accessibility and the disability community.
Ability Summit 2024: Advancing accessibility with AI technology and innovation
Today we kick off the 14th Microsoft Ability Summit, an annual event to bring together thought leaders to discuss how we accelerate accessibility to help bridge the Disability Divide. There are three key themes to this year’s summit: Build, Imagine, and Include. “Build” invites us to explore how to build accessibly and inclusively by leaning on the insights of disabled talent. “Imagine” dives into best practices for architecting accessible buildings, events, content and products.
Creating a more disability-inclusive workplace
October marks the start of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. With this year’s theme of “Access and Equity,” let’s take a moment to celebrate disabled talent, and review the reality of the Disability Divide and how it impacts opportunity in society. The data is important to review.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day – Accessibility at the heart of innovation - Microsoft On the Issues
Today, we celebrate the 12th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD): A day to drive awareness, highlight the advancements in accessible technology, and the incredible work happening within the community to bridge the disability divide.
Microsoft’s Annual Ability Summit: Exploring the technology, people, partnerships and policies driving a more accessible future Original
Today, we kick off the 13th annual Microsoft Ability Summit, a day dedicated to the conversations that will advance the future of accessibility and disability inclusion. This year, Microsoft senior leaders including CEO Satya Nadella, and policy leaders such as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, will join us at the summit, along with 20,000 attendees from 100 countries and the help of over 70 presenters, to imagine and begin the next steps towards the future of accessible inclusion.
Netflix names Microsoft as partner for new consumer subscription ...
Ads Jul 13, 2022 | Mikhail Parakhin, President Web Experiences, Microsoft We’re thrilled to be named Netflix’s technology and sales partner to help power their first ad-supported subscription offering. At launch, consumers will have more options to access Netflix’s award-winning content. Marketers looking to Microsoft for their advertising needs will have access to the Netflix audience and premium connected TV inventory.
Microsoft's framework for building AI systems responsibly
Ads Jun 21, 2022 | Natasha Crampton – Chief Responsible AI Officer Today we are sharing publicly Microsoft’s Responsible AI Standard, a framework to guide how we build AI systems. It is an important step in our journey to develop better, more trustworthy AI.
Netflix names Microsoft as partner for new consumer subscription plan - The Official Microsoft Blog - Microsoft
Ads Jul 13, 2022 | Mikhail Parakhin, President Web Experiences, Microsoft We’re thrilled to be named Netflix’s technology and sales partner to help power their first ad-supported subscription offering. At launch, consumers will have more options to access Netflix’s award-winning content. Marketers looking to Microsoft for their advertising needs will have access to the Netflix audience and premium connected TV inventory.
Microsoft Inspire 2022: Unlocking new partner opportunities, solutions for hybrid work and more - The Official Microsoft Blog - Microsoft
Ads Jul 19, 2022 | Frank X. Shaw – Corporate Vice President, Communications As we kick off the virtual gathering for Microsoft Inspire 2022, it’s an ideal time to reflect on the importance of our partner ecosystem. Each year we host an event to celebrate the work our partners do, and to recognize the impact they have across business and industry.
Microsoft's framework for building AI systems responsibly - Microsoft On the Issues - Microsoft
Ads Jun 21, 2022 | Natasha Crampton – Chief Responsible AI Officer Today we are sharing publicly Microsoft’s Responsible AI Standard, a framework to guide how we build AI systems. It is an important step in our journey to develop better, more trustworthy AI.
Narrowing the data gap: World Bank and Microsoft commit to unlocking better development outcomes for persons with disabilities
Across the world, persons with disabilities remain invisible in the global development agenda. One key reason is because of variances in the availability and use of disability-disaggregated data across organizations and borders.
This Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let's talk tech and employment for people with disabilities
Today we honor the 11th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD is a day of awareness focused on digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities around the world. The pandemic has grown the disability demographic and widened the disability divide. Yet there are the seeds of positive change.
Digital Accessibility Creates an Inclusive Workplace
Business Empowering people with disabilities at work advances social inclusion and is good for business. Digital accessibility is essential to efforts at Microsoft to create opportunities for disabled talent. share comment downloadhttps://ssir.org/pdf/Supp-Winter-2022-Inclusive-Workplace.pdf print order reprints related stories By Jenny Lay-Flurrie Winter 2022 Jenny Lay-Flurrie (Illustration by Shannon May) More than one billion people around the world live with a disability.
What is Visual Description? As events evolve, greater accessibility for the disability community emerges
Our commitment to accessibility runs deep at Microsoft. Over the years, we’ve systematically worked to embed accessibility and disability inclusive thinking into everything we do in response to feedback and requests from our customers, employees, and the community. At Microsoft we believe that disability is a strength.
Honoring Global Accessibility Awareness Day with a call to action
Today we celebrate the 10th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). As we at Microsoft reflect on GAAD, it can’t be ignored that this past year has made advancing accessibility initiatives more important than ever. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, widening what the World Bank termed the “Disability Divide,” the gap in societal inclusion for people with disabilities.
Mutual empowerment through mentorship, sponsorship and allyship
Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie and Microsoft U.S. Chief Digital Officer Jacky Wright talk about finding and nurturing supportive relationships built on advocacy and trust. Tune in to a recording of a conversation they had in April 2020 as part of the Women at Microsoft ERG Meet our Leaders series, or download the transcript to the conversation.
A first look at our disability representation stats
Today, we released our annual diversity and inclusion report, including U.S. disability representation for the first time. This is a small but incredibly important step on our journey with disability inclusion, a journey intrinsically linked to Microsoft’s mission – “to empower every person and every organization to achieve more.” The word every is significant, it includes the one billion-plus people with disabilities around the world.
The New Normal: A Perspective from Microsoft
Anne Taylor, a woman who is blind, works on a Surface device with a braille keyboard sitting on the side. Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer, shares what the disability community can teach us about working remotely Over the last few months, the world at large has taken on many new challenges in daily life. Adopting new ways to work from home, often while parenting and balancing other priorities. It takes time, patience and problem solving. It’s like learning a new language.
Microsoft Accessibility Blog
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The power of inclusion, extending our learnings from the Supported Employment Program
Fathi Mohamed from the Supported Employment Program waves from the Microsoft Connector bus. Our mission at Microsoft is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. That includes the 1+ billion people with disabilities around the world. We believe that people with disabilities are a strength for our company and a talent pool that adds not just diversity but expertise and empathy that make our products, services and culture better.
How to Design Tech So Nobody's Left Behind
Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft chief accessibility officer I’ve had deafness since I was little. My sister was born with congenital deafness, and my dad has some too. You’re not really in the cool gang in my family if you don’t have some hearing loss. When I joined Microsoft, in 2005, I led European operations that provided customer service for Hotmail and other products. I also became a leader in the company’s disability community.
5 takeaways from Brad Smith’s speech at the RISE conference
Tapping AI to solve the world’s big problems Microsoft has long been known for suites of products, Smith said, and the company is now bringing that approach to a new suite of programs, AI for Good. This initiative’s first program, AI for Earth, was started in 2017 and brings advances in computer science to four environmental areas of focus: biodiversity, water, agriculture and climate change.
The Ability Hacks: The story of two hackathon teams embracing the transformative power of technology
This week is the Microsoft One Week Hackathon, where employees from around the company work tirelessly to “hack” solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges. The opportunity to empower people through technology, particularly those with disabilities, has never been more important. Back in 2014, we had 10 ability hack projects, last year we had 150 projects and 850 people, and this year – well, it’s going to be exciting to see.
Technology sector collaborates to develop HID standard for braille displays
Improving experiences for all our customers is something that we obsess over. We know that advancements in technology and inclusive design can help unlock solutions that empower people with disabilities. We also recognize the need to work together — across the industry — to ensure that no one is left behind. That is why Microsoft collaborated with Apple and industry organizations to develop an USB-IF Human Interface Design (HID) standard for braille displays.
Bringing our accessibility awareness game today and every day
Retired U.S. Army Capt. Mike Luckett works for Warfighter Engaged, a nonprofit organization that provides gaming equipment to wounded vets, and helped test the new Xbox Adaptive Controller. Today we celebrate the seventh annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day and announce new technology and resources for people with disabilities. The goal of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about accessibility.
Using AI to empower people with disabilities
At Microsoft, we believe advancements in technology can be a force multiplier in unlocking solutions for some of the biggest challenges facing society. That’s why last year we announced AI for Earth, a comprehensive program to apply artificial intelligence towards unlocking solutions to climate, water, agriculture and the biodiversity issues facing our planet.
Microsoft : Launch of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update helps empower people with disabilities | 4-Traders
Today, with the launch of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is taking a big step forward on our journey to make our products more accessible and empower people with disabilities. Our teams have been working tirelessly to build inclusive content and expand the usability of core accessible features.
#InclusionWorks for Innovation: How Microsoft is Opening Doors for Everyone
This year’s theme for National Disability Employment Awareness Month, #InclusionWorks, has special meaning for Microsoft, and for me. Most everyone at some point in their career will face moments where you cannot “see the woods for the trees.” “Brick wall” moments that stop you from moving forward. They happen at work, at play and in everyday life and, boy, do they test us. These challenges can also bring out the best in our ability to problem solve. To think creatively.
The Official Microsoft Blog
UN International Persons with Disability Day is a great opportunity to reflect, especially when the theme is “Inclusion Matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities.” I wrote a blog just over a year ago called “Disability is my Strength,” which told my personal journey from being very secretive about my disability to being open about it.
A milestone that deserves recognition: 25 years of the ADA
Twenty-five years ago a landmark piece of legislation became law in the U.S. and changed the face of disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was, and still is today, a pivotal law that for the first time recognized and mandated rights for persons with disabilities. Instead of (literally) crawling to get on a bus, there were ramps and lifts … an endless list of daily battles for people with disabilities were set aside and a new set of norms began to exist.
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