Active Accessibility

Active Accessibility: An application programming interface (API) built into a variety of Windows operating systems, including Windows 2000, Windows XP, and products in the Windows Server 2003 family. Active Accessibility allows an accessibility aid (or other Active Accessibility client) to collect meaningful information from an application's user interface and convey that information to the user. For example, Microsoft Active Accessibility allows a screen reader to convey to the user that an application is displaying a pop-up message asking whether to save or discard file changes. Because Active Accessibility reduces the need for application-specific code, it reduces overall maintenance costs and allows software developers to innovate in their user interface without sacrificing compatibility with accessibility aids.