Microsoft has released four new computer games that people can play using only their eyes. These games, branded Eyes First, use eye-tracking technology to enable people with speech and mobility disabilities to do things on the computer like solve puzzles and negotiate mazes.

This article will not contain any accessibility best practices. It will not tell you any quick fixes you can make to your websites and apps to make them more usable for people with disabilities. It will not be technical at all. But yet, it will tell you the single most important thing you can do to improve web accessibility.

With so much recent focus on web accessibility, you might find yourself wondering: is it actually just a fad?

A careful review of the evidence suggests that web accessibility is much more than a passing fad. Here are 4 reasons why web accessibility is here to stay.

Earlier this month, IKEA and partners announced a new line of gaming prototypes, UPPKOPPLA, that is meant to improve the gaming experience for people with a wide range of abilities and preferences.

The new line of accessories will use 3D-printing to target the physical needs of gamers. To accomplish this, IKEA is teaming up with UNYQ, a design company specializing in 3D-printed medical products and devices, and Area Academy, an e-sport company known for their educational focus.

If a customer were visiting you in your store and needed assistance with something, most likely they would ask. If a customer or potential customer is visiting your website and they can't do or find something because it isn't accessible, what are they going to do?

Pinterest, one of the most visual social media platforms, is also considered pretty accessible by many. Pinterest features elements such as alt text, a balanced color palette, and advanced screen reader capabilities, making the platform accessible by people who are blind or have visual or other disabilities.

Here is how to take advantage of the accessibility features in place and how to create more accessible Pinterest content yourself.

May 30 is World MS Day, created to increase awareness, solidarity, and hope for those affected by multiple sclerosis. The campaign for 2019 is “My Invisible MS” and the theme is Visibility, according to the World MS Day website.

The special goal of this year’s theme is to challenge common misconceptions and bring awareness to the invisible symptoms of MS and the impacts of those unseen symptoms on people’s everyday lives.

For some people with various kinds of disabilities, standard computing technologies such as keyboards, monitors, and computer mice can be difficult or impossible to operate and to use to navigate the digital world. Fortunately, there are alternative methods that can help, known as assistive technologies, for using a computer or browsing the web. While the term “assistive technology” can apply to any device used to make tasks possible or easier ―  such as wheelchairs and hearing aids ― this article will discuss only those assistive technologies used to supplement or replace computing devices.

Having people with disabilities visible and present in the community, making decisions, and being valued has the transformational power to impact attitudes toward inclusion. Being inclusive is important to an organization’s success in order to enact positive social change that includes all members of their community.

“Accessible travel” is the concept that all people — including people with vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments — should be able to do what they want to do and go where they want to go without facing unnecessary barriers, physical or digital, that prevent them from enjoying their travel and tourism experiences to the fullest capacity possible.

May 16, 2019 marks the eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). To help spread awareness of the importance of accessible digital and web experiences for all, we're highlighting 50 facts. The time for accessibility is now.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground, is releasing a feature-length documentary telling the story of those who attended a summer camp for teenagers with disabilities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Crip Camp" is part of Higher Ground's first phase of releases in their partnership with Netflix.

Less than 10% of blind students today are Braille readers, despite the common misconception that everyone who is blind knows Braille. To combat the Braille literacy crisis, Lego has put the recommendations of two charities into action and is testing the concept of Lego Braille Bricks.

Braille Bricks will aim to help children who are blind or have visual impairments learn Braille while having fun. The Lego Foundation and Lego Group made the announcement on April 24 at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris.

When building a website, many designers and developers adhere to the principle of keeping everything as simple as possible, only as complex as it needs to be. This is usually a good practice for web design itself — but what about the text on your web pages?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 6.6 million people in the U.S. have a cognitive disability that affects their memory, concentration, or decision-making. Making the language of your website more accessible is a valuable step in improving the experience for people with disabilities.

National Life Insurance Day is observed every year on May 2, the anniversary of life insurance becoming available in the United States. This year, let's take the celebration a step further by committing to make life insurance websites and tools accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

Much has been written and discussed about the accessibility of digital materials used in education, and as the concepts of web accessibility become more-commonly understood and applied, there should be more movement in that space in the not-so-distant future. Most people understand why it's critical for a student's success that they have access to the information and materials they need when they need them. What happens, though, when it isn't the student that faces accessibility barriers, but the parent or parents?

More than ever, companies are striving to innovate workforce and culture. Companies that aim to be diverse and inclusive of people with disabilities take accessibility seriously, and also recognize that accessibility is a civil right.

We believe that creating a separate website for people with disabilities is a form of segregation and can be discriminatory, and we advise against it unless there is absolutely no way around it. If you asking if you should have a separate accessible website, please also ask yourself these questions.

If you experience difficulty with reading, memory, focus, or problem-solving, and that difficulty interferes with your ability to easily consume web content, you're not alone. Whether you identify as having a cognitive disability or have temporary or minor challenges understanding digital information, some of these tips may help you.

Motor disabilities manifest themselves in different ways for each person. Symptoms such as pain, tics, tremors, problems with fine motor skills, and paralysis can change in intensity over time, depending on the disorder. If you have any trouble using a mouse or want to discover options for making web browsing easier, check out these 3 tips.

As they’ve been designed today, standard input devices such as keyboards and computer mice need a high degree of fine motor control skills. Many people barely give this fact a second thought, but for others it poses an everyday challenge.

Fortunately, traditional keyboards are far from the only way that you can enter text and navigate the web. If you're looking for enhancements you can make so surfing the web is a little easier, please check out and consider these tips.

From breaking news videos to audiobooks, multimedia content is increasingly important to people’s activities online - and by 2021, 80 percent of the world’s internet traffic will be video. Unfortunately, when that content isn't made to be accessible, much of it could be lost to people with hearing disabilities. If you need or want to make adjustments to your web browsing experience, check out these tips.

Google has announced that its Lookout app, which uses the phone's cameras and sensors to identify objects and text, is now available on Pixel devices in the United States. Lookout uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize items and speak them aloud as they're detected.

Laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) require that website content be made accessible to people with disabilities. Unfortunately, most websites don't currently meet those standards — and even when websites do comply with standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), you still may require or prefer modifications to help. If you have trouble seeing or reading the material on websites, there are some actions you can take to improve your experience and make it easier.

This is part one in a five-part series about adjusting your web browsing experience to better-suit your needs.

This is the fifth and final piece of our series dedicated to sharing a bit of what we look for when testing websites and apps to identify the accessibility barriers people with certain disability types may experience. Take a peek at how we test for the impact of speech disabilities.