The micro:bit brings programming skills to millions of young people – now block-based coding has been made accessible for learners with disabilities, such as visual impairment or fine motor difficulties, widening access to digital skills at the point where confidence and curiosity begin.

Micro:bit Educational Foundation is tackling a long-standing exclusion in computing education. Block-based coding is the usual starting point for children learning to code, but it has been largely inaccessible to students who are blind, visually impaired or have fine motor difficulties because it relies on drag-and-drop and lacks screen reader support. This forces many disabled learners into text-based coding earlier than their peers, making learning harder and more isolating. Working with Blockly and Microsoft MakeCode, micro:bit is changing that by adding keyboard controls and screen reader compatibility to block-based coding. The potential impact is huge. micro:bit has already reached more than 70 million people globally and there are over 11.5 million micro:bits in use. The organisation estimates that the accessibility improvements could benefit around 100,000 to 150,000 children per month. In 2024 alone, Scratch, another Blockly-based platform, reported 36 million unique users a month, showing how widely these changes could spread if adopted more broadly. This work creates a more equal starting point in computing for learners who have too often been left behind. 

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