Microsoft Accessibility Standards (MAS) are a comprehensive set of guidelines established to ensure digital experiences are inclusive and usable by people with disabilities. These standards are aligned with global accessibility norms such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and Section 508. MAS compliance is particularly crucial for enterprise-level platforms and applications used across diverse user groups, ensuring that everyone - regardless of ability - can navigate, understand, and interact with digital content.

Common Accessibility Issues Faced by Users

Users with disabilities often face challenges when interacting with digital content that isn’t designed with accessibility in mind. The most common issues include:

• Keyboard Navigation Limitations: Inability to navigate interfaces without a mouse.

• Screen Reader Incompatibility: Non-descriptive labels, missing roles, and lack of semantic structure.

• Visual Barriers: Poor contrast ratios, lack of visual focus indicators, and non-scalable text.

These issues not only hinder usability but also affect overall inclusivity, violating both ethical and legal standards.

Sprinklr Now Ensures MAS Compliance Across Advocacy Site

To address these challenges, Sprinklr undertook a structured and comprehensive approach to making the Advocacy site MAS-compliant. The resolution focused on three major categories of Sev2 (Severity 2) MAS issues:

1. Keyboard Navigation MAS Sev2 Issues

Sprinklr identified and resolved areas where users were unable to navigate via keyboard alone. Key updates included:

• Implementing logical tab order across all interactive elements.

• Ensuring all buttons and links are focusable and usable with standard keyboard interactions.

• Providing visible focus indicators to clearly show which element is active.

2. Screen Reader MAS Sev2 Issues

For screen reader users, the site had several accessibility gaps, such as missing ARIA roles, unlabeled form elements, and incorrect reading order. Solutions implemented:

• Added descriptive ARIA labels and roles to interactive components.

• Corrected heading hierarchies and landmarks to aid navigation.

• Ensured live regions and dynamic content are properly announced by screen readers.

3. Visual Requirements MAS Sev2 Issues

Visual accessibility was addressed by improving contrast, scalability, and layout consistency. Key enhancements included:

• Meeting the minimum color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for text and 3:1 for UI elements.

• Ensuring text resizes properly up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.

• Enhancing visual focus states for better tracking during keyboard use.

By resolving key Severity 2 (Sev2) issues across keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and visual accessibility, Sprinklr has not only enhanced the user experience but also laid a strong foundation for continued accessibility compliance and long-term innovation.