Will Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 be accessible to blind users?

Hello all!

I'm a completely blind aviation enthusiast with a deep interest in flight simming.

This has been a passion of mine for a pretty long time, but I've really started getting serious about it over the past 2 years.

At this time, I'm able to use Prepar3d with various add-ons that allow me to do this in an accessible manner.

Some of these add-ons were specifically designed for blind pilots, but many of them are actually mainstream products, some of which were adapted to be more accessible by the wonderful people developing them.

Currently, this allows me and other blind pilots (we actually are an extremely vibrant community) to plan and perform propper IFR flights, it is even possible to do this on the VATSIM network so we can enjoy the experience of flying with other pilots and
with live ATC provided by human controllers.

However, there are also some unfortunate restrictions that we have to deal with constantly when flying in the sim.

For instance, taxiing is completely inaccessible at this time, as there's no way for us to know where we're going when navigating on the ground, there are no accessible indications of taxi ways, holding points, runways and other traffic that might be in
our way.

The only workaround that currently exists is spawning from the gate onto the runway, which does work but definitely takes away from the realism and authenticity of the experience.

It can also cause issues especially when flying on the VATSIM network, the community there is extremely helpful and more than happy to accommodate our needs, but requesting permission to spawn can be problematic especially during big events.

Other frequent issues that we keep hitting include things like being unable to capture the ILS glideslope due to the autopilot add-on we use (FSTramp) failing to properly line up the plane, the inability to fly directly to a given waypoint on a given SID
/ STAR / approach, being unable to divert to a different airport if needed, or the autopilot completely failing when trying to follow radar vectors provided by ATC.

For those and many more reasons, I as well as the rest of the community really hope that FS 2020 will bring a much better accessibility experience, e.g. by allowing us to directly interact with an aircraft's instrument panels and FMC system, things that
we are currently unable to do in Prepar3d or FS X.

During the early stages of FS 2020 development, there have been some statements from Ms saying that accessibility is definitely something which will be considered, and there have been reports of Ms partnering with Air Force veterans who have unfortunately
lost sight in order to provide feedback on the accessibility of the sim.

Unfortunately though, there haven't really been any updates on this effort for quite some time now, which I do understand given that the sim is still in alpha and anything being shared with the public needs to comply with the rules put in place by the non-disclosure
terms.

Thus, I was wondering if it would perhaps be possible to get some more details on how this is coming along by any chance?

Even if it may not be possible to have this question answered at this time, I'm definitely hoping that posting on here might spark the attention of the right people and maybe provide more insight into the accessibility work that is being done to make FS
2020 enjoyable by all.

Either way, I really just do want to let people know that the interest in getting an accessible sim is huge, and I plus the others are eager to get our hands on this wonderful new product.

Thanks for reading, and take care @all!

Robin

:)