Digital Divide in Singapore - The Visually Handicapped's Situation [Final]

Based on statistics from the World Economic Forum, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (2013), also known as IDA, has announced that “For the fourth year running, Singapore has placed second in the world in harnessing the power of infocomm technology (ICT) to boost productivity and increase social development.” This also means that a significant portion of the population is involved in using technology in their everyday life. However, despite the high ranking achieved, there are certain minority groups in Singapore who do not enjoy the privilege of being connected to the digital world. For example, the visually handicapped are experiencing a lack of ICT in their life due to their disability.

According to Wood (2012), “Today’s digital environment has a lot to offer blind computer users, but the Web remains a minefield of frustration.” This is because most technological innovations or products created are simply not designed in consideration of the visually handicapped. For example, commonly used digital innovations such as Internet are more of visual based products. Therefore, it is often a challenging task for the visually handicapped to learn the usage of digital technologies. Inevitably, this leads to the visually handicapped to be not as plugged-in to the digital world as compared to the rest of the Singaporeans. As a result, a digital divide is formed between the visually handicapped and the able-bodied. Unfortunately, because of the digital gap, the visually handicapped are disadvantaged when compared to the able-bodied in terms of marketability in the employment market as increasing Singaporean employers are expecting their potential employees to possess essential IT knowledge, so the IDA  should strive to reach out to more of the visually handicapped population by widely advertising Singapore’s Infocomm Accessibility Centre (IA Centre), a IT training centre customized for the disabled, allowing the visually handicapped to recognize that there are resources available to train them in effectively using technology despite their disabilities.

As technologies advance rapidly in modern time, an increasing number of businesses are looking into using these digital technologies to further enhance their efficiency and productivity. This trend is also fervently followed by businesses in Singapore. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum (2014), Singapore is ranked 13th place in the world for “extensively” using “new technology” in enterprises. In light of this situation, it can be seen that knowledge of IT is gradually becoming an essential criterion in Singapore’s working industry. New Horizons (2011), an IT training company in Singapore, has also mentioned that being “technologically adept” does improve chances of being employed by companies.

Since Singapore’s companies are shifting their operations to the digital platforms, the visually handicapped, who are not as technologically proficient compared to the able-bodied, are at a disadvantage. This causes them to have lower marketability in the employment market than the rest of the citizens as more employers are searching for people who possess necessary IT knowledge in order to easily carry out the company’s digitalized operations without extensive training.

Recognizing the need to address the issue of lower marketability in visually handicapped due to low proficiency in technology, IDA, in partnership with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Microsoft Singapore and the Society for the Physically Disabled, established the IA Centre in 2008. The IA centre’s aim is to provide essential IT training for the disabled, such as the visually handicapped, to narrow down the digital divide. According to IDA (2008), the centre also aims “to equip disabled people with market-relevant skills to enhance their employability.”

One unique selling point of the IA centre is that each course is “customized” to suit the varying “needs” of the disabled students (IDA, 2008). This is because the IA Centre caters to people with different disabilities. Before the students embark on any course, the centre will conduct “personal assessment and appraisal” of the students so that they can design an “individualized training plan” based on the results of the evaluation to suit each student’s capabilities (IDA, 2008). This allows students to benefit fully from the course and acquire the IT skills more easily.

The IA Centre also provides financial assistance to students. Thus, the visually handicapped need not worry about course fees and are able to take a variety of customized courses to increase their employability in the market.

Regrettably, not many people know about the centre’s existence. According to the IA Centre (n.d.), up till 2012, out of the available 5800 training slots, IA Centre had only trained 1500 individuals with disabilities. This not only included the visually handicapped but also Singaporeans with varying disabilities. In contrast, there were approximately 3332 visually handicapped people in 2013 in Singapore (Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, 2014). This means that a significant amount of visually handicapped is still not benefiting from the resources available at the centre.

In order to tackle this issue, IDA should further advertise the benefits of attending courses in IA Centre for the visually handicapped. For example, they could cooperate with the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, a welfare association for the visually handicapped, so that more visually handicapped might know about the centre’s existence and benefits of attending the centre. This would in turn induce more visually handicapped to sign up with IA Centre’s courses to improve their employability in the market.

Moreover, IDA should seek to re-design the IA Centre website to include other languages used in Singapore, such as Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. This may aid the non-English speaking families to be able to find out more information about the IA Centre and in turn persuade them to sign up with the centre to gain essential IT skills.

In conclusion, as usage of digital technology is getting increasingly prevalent in today’s working society, it is essential for the visually handicapped to acquire essential IT knowledge to survive in these current times. However, to do so, both the Singapore’s government and public welfare associations need to work in tandem to provide extensive support for the visually handicapped population by teaching them the necessary IT skills. This will in turn narrow the digital gap between the visually handicapped and the rest of the society.

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References

Infocomm Accessbility Centre. (n.d.). Our achievements. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.iacentre.org.sg/infocomm-accessibility-centre/our-achievements/

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2013). Singapore no.2 in WEF ranking. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.ida.gov.sg/blog/insg/in-the-news/singapore-no-2-in-wef-ranking/

Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. (2008). Singapore opens first pan-disability IT training centre. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.ida.gov.sg/blog/insg/in-the-news/singapore-opens-first-pan-disability-it-training-centre/

New Horizons. (2011). The Importance Of IT Training Courses Singapore Organizations Should Know. Retrieved October 02, 2014, from http://www.newhorizons.com.sg/IT-training/it-training-courses-singapore.html

Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped. (2014). Annual report 2013/2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.savh.org.sg/publications/annual_reports/2013-14.pdf

Wood, L. (2012). Blind and online: Progress, not perfection, for visually impaired tech users. Computerword.com. Retrieved October 02, 2014 from http://www.computerworld.com/article/2491911/internet/blind-and-online--progress--not-perfection--for-visually-impaired-tech-users.html

World Economic Forum. (2014). Global information technology report 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://reports.weforum.org/global-information-technology-report-2014/#=&section=7th-pillar-business-usage

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*Further edited on 14-Nov-14