International Day of Persons with Disabilities, recognized globally on December 3 each year, is a reminder to advocate for the rights and well-being of individuals with disabilities—both seen and unseen. At Microsoft, we’re committed to supporting inclusive and equitable education so that every student can fully engage in learning.
Discover how our accessibility tools, along with Microsoft Copilot, can help you create a learning environment where everyone feels included and has the tools and resources they need to succeed.
Boost equitable education
Educators play an important role in cultivating learning environments where all students can participate. Microsoft provides built-in accessibility tools to foster independence, boost confidence, and promote participation in an encouraging way. Dive into the accessibility tools in Microsoft 365 Education to create inclusive and empowering learning environments for both students and educators. Explore accessibility and inclusivity courses in the Microsoft Learn Educator Center.
Empower student autonomy
Learn how built-in, inclusive technology in Microsoft 365 empowers students to personalize their learning experience, removing barriers and reducing stigma.
Immersive Reader
Available in Microsoft products like Reading Coach and Microsoft Edge, Immersive Reader helps students improve reading comprehension, stay engaged, and build confidence, while also supporting learning differences. Students can use line focus to concentrate on one part of the text at a time. They can break words into syllables, adjust font size, and increase line, word, and letter spacing to reduce visual crowding to improve readability. Immersive Reader can also be used to increase text size, adjust colors for better contrast, and read text aloud to support comprehension.
Speech-to-text with dictation
Dictation lets students use voice-to-text instead of typing. For learners with sensory processing difficulties, chronic pain, or fatigue, dictation offers an alternative to typing that reduces physical and cognitive strain. For students with dysgraphia or disabilities for which writing may be challenging, dictation allows them to express their thoughts and ideas verbally instead of relying on writing skills.
Microsoft Translator
Translator provides visual access to spoken content to help learners, like those who are deaf or have a hearing disability, follow conversations to enhance participation. Likewise, while multilingual differences are not a specific disability, they can often create a barrier to learning. For multilingual learners, Translator provides immediate access to translated text, supporting comprehension to help learners keep pace with classroom activities.
Live captions
Available in Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Windows 11, and Copilot+ PCs, live captions convert speech to text in real-time. For students with hearing disabilities or auditory processing disorders, this tool provides visual reinforcement of spoken content, providing better access to lectures, discussions, and most auditory information. Plus, it fully supports multiple languages, making it accessible for multilingual speakers too.
Empowering all students to reach their potential
Additionally, Copilot can help educators meet the diverse needs of all students. From adapting teaching strategies to providing tailored resources, Copilot enables educators to create learning experiences that empower every student to succeed.
The Northern Ireland Education Authority provides a powerful example of how Copilot can promote equity in the classroom. Educators use Copilot prompts, based on student input, to help them express their creativity to create original art and design pieces that showcase their unique talents.
Play the video to see the transformative power of Copilot in action and discover how it opens new possibilities for every student.
Personalize learning experiences using Copilot
Whether you’re a classroom educator, a paraeducator, or lead special education, getting started with Copilot can help you support the needs of all learners. Try using and customizing the following prompts in Copilot. Be sure to log in with your school account for enterprise data protection to ensure the safety of sensitive student information. And, remember to use the attachment feature to add lesson or unit plans, relevant documents, and images for more targeted responses.
- Based on this lesson plan, generate strategies for accommodations for specific areas of my lesson in my [grade level] classroom to support students with [specific need such as ADHD, dyslexia, or anxiety].
- Draft goals and action steps for a student with [specific need such as autism or executive functioning challenges]. The student [met or did not meet] their previous goal to [goal from last IEP such as improve time management skills by completing in-class assignments within the given time frame].
- Provide step-by-step guidance for teaching [skill needed such as social skills or communication skills] to a student with [specific need such as anxiety or a speech disorder] in a non-stigmatizing way.
- Using the information I provided, suggest one-on-one support strategies for assisting students with [specific need such as sensory processing disorders or autism] in a [scenario such as specific group activity or independent learning task].
- Generate differentiated assessment methods that allow students with [specific need such as a specific learning disability] to demonstrate their understanding of [subject or topic]. Include both formative and summative assessment options that minimize stress and optimize engagement.
Using these prompts in Copilot can help you easily adapt learning experiences to meet every student’s unique needs, creating a more inclusive, supportive, and equitable classroom.
Streamline IEPs with Khanmigo for Teachers
Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are essential for documentation and planning to support all students. However, creating and tailoring these plans requires a significant amount of time and effort from educators. Khanmigo for Teachers, free for educators in over 40 countries thanks to our partnership, offers an IEP Assistant to help streamline the process.
Educators provide context on the learning environment, disability category, and current challenges and strengths to quickly generate an initial draft. The plan should then be refined based on professional judgment, evaluation, and analysis. Be sure that the final IEP is tailored to the student’s specific needs and complies with all applicable school policies and legal requirements.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a meaningful opportunity to reflect on how to support all students. Microsoft provides accessibility tools to empower every student to engage independently and confidently in their learning. Copilot enhances learning by helping educators plan inclusive lessons and develop individualized learning goals. Explore how Microsoft can help you create a classroom where learning is truly inclusive for every student.
