As tech giants focus on accessibility tools, the equation changes for education

The door to education is communication, some say. And the big technology companies are opening that door more widely than ever before, not only as their products become more accessible to people with specialized needs, but also as educators find more ways to use those features in the classroom and beyond. The biggest technology companies -- think Apple, Google and Microsoft -- include language accessibility tools in their vast array of products, and those features are available to pretty much any user. And the companies have been actively improving those tools in recent years. Each of the tech giants has a group that promotes accessibility, said Luis Perez, technical assistance specialist at the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials, who himself has a visual disability.