Open Government – New Accessibility Features for Office 2010

Another theme articulated in the Government’s recently published ICT strategy is the acknowledgement that “Government ICT is vital for the delivery of efficient, cost-effective public services which are responsive to the needs of citizens and businesses. We want government ICT to be open: open to the people and organisations that use our services”.

An important aspect of ICT’s role in enabling better online access to public services is ensuring that the solution is accessible to people with disabilities and helping all users to create more accessible content.

 In addition to the accessibility functionality that you may already be familiar with, Microsoft Office 2010 now has some new and updated accessibility features that are well worth bringing to your attention:

• The Subtitling Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint (STAMP)helps Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 users add closed captions to the video and audio files included in their presentations, which boosts their impact for those with hearing disabilities. This also enables video and audio in PowerPoint to be localized in different languages.
• The DAISY Consortium, Save as DAISY for Office 2010 helps Microsoft Word users convert Word Open XML files to the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) format, which powers digital talking books and compatible software & braille readers for people with print disabilities. This version now supports Office 2003, 2007 and 2010.

To get a full picture of the accessibility functionality available for Windows 7 and Office 2010 visit here

For information on the accessibility functionality in Internet Explorer 9 visit here

Posted by Ian