Microsoft’s Commitment to the European Accessibility Act

In this blog post, authors Jenny Lay-Flurrie and Nanna-Louise Linde (Microsoft On The Issues) present Microsoft’s approach to the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which becomes enforceable on June 28, 2025. The Act represents a major step for accessibility and disability rights across the EU, setting unified requirements for accessible digital products and services and improving consistency for over 110 million disabled people. Microsoft, a supporter of the EAA since its introduction in 2015, sees it as both a legal milestone and a catalyst for future accessibility policies, including those tied to AI.

The authors emphasize Microsoft’s long-standing commitment to accessibility, viewing it as a fundamental right central to its mission. In preparation for the EAA, Microsoft dedicated years of work and hundreds of engineers to ensuring compliance across products like Windows, Teams, and Outlook, collaborating with policymakers and accessibility experts. They note that the EAA is still evolving, with the ongoing harmonization of standards influencing how companies adapt their products and services over time.

The post also highlights new accessibility-driven innovations resulting from EAA compliance efforts. These include real-time text in Teams for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, improved accessibility feature documentation, more inclusive and sustainable packaging, enhanced support for captions and audio descriptions in app and game trailers, and expanded AI-powered accessibility tools such as Copilot and Immersive Reader. The authors stress that the EAA will remain a key guide for shaping accessibility in future AI developments…

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