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.
________________________________________________________________________________
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/#=§ion=7th-pillar-business-usage
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*Further edited on 14-Nov-14