Leonard Cheshire joins Microsoft's AI for Accessibility programme

We have joined Microsoft's AI for Accessibility programme to help further our efforts in supporting people with disabilities into employment. It funds projects that harness the power of AI to amplify human capability for the more than one billion people around the world with a disability. This will further help our efforts in supporting people with disabilities into employment.

Stigma and discrimination often mean people with disabilities around the world are forced into extreme poverty, or low-paid and low-skilled roles.

For over a decade, we have delivered life-changing projects in Africa and Asia. Around 38,000 people have gained waged or self-employment as a result, as well as 83,000 people receiving skills development support.

Working with Objectivity, a Microsoft partner, the new artificial intelligence (AI) grant will provide us with a sophisticated digital platform to accelerate our employment work supporting people with disabilities starting in India.

India is one of the most challenging environments for people with disabilities seeking employment. The latest Indian census showed just over a third (36%) of people with disabilities are in employment, with the vast majority (31%) being agricultural workers.

The AI platform will be piloted in the country but has the potential to support many hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities access employment globally as we roll it out in different nations and with other partners.

It will provide a detailed profile of a candidate's skills beyond those gained in employment or training. It will help to identify interests and career goals in a way that is fully accessible and intuitive. Information gathered will also reveal confidence issues that could be holding candidate's back from applying for roles or pursuing careers, with tailored support and inspirational stories built into the system. Where an individual's interests go beyond current skills, support will also be available to develop these.

Laura Crandley, Executive Director of Partnerships at Leonard Cheshire, said: "This tool could be a game-changer for how we support people with disabilities. By using the very latest AI technology we can build people's confidence, using gamification and peer support to identify transferable skills and potentially appealing job options, transforming the way we connect candidates to opportunities and companies that match their talents. The potential is limitless and we are hugely excited by what we can achieve to support many more disabled people into work around the globe with this new approach to tackling exclusion and marginalisation."

AI for Accessibility is Microsoft’s $25 million 5-year programme aimed at harnessing the power of AI to amplify human capability for the more than one billion people around the world with disabilities. It’s a call to action for developers, NGO’s, academics, researchers and inventors to accelerate their work for people with disabilities, focusing on three challenges:

  • Employment
  • Daily Life
  • Communication and Connection

Through grants, technology, and AI expertise, the program aims to accelerate the development of accessible and intelligent AI solutions and build on recent advancements in Microsoft Cognitive Services to help developers create intelligent apps that can see, hear, speak, understand and interpret people’s needs.

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