Oct 6, 2009
Special devices let them lead more independent lives
By Tan Weizhen
MR KUA Cheng Hock, 55, carries or uses four gadgets on any given day, and is heavily dependent on them - just like any Singaporean, except that he is blind.
He has an iPhone: Its built-in Global Positioning System helps him to manoeuvre his way around. He also uses an application for using public transport. These are applications anyone can use, but once he turns on the touchscreen phone's accessibility function - a mode for the disabled - a voice reads out what he selects on the menus.
He also relies on a Braille notetaker, a newly bought Macintosh that he uses mainly to surf the Web, and an e-book reader.
Technology has become the great leveller for the disabled - as well as the non-profit groups that care for them - allowing them to venture into a world that was previously inaccessible. They are using specially tuned phones and gadgets, iPhone applications and video chats to achieve a measure of independence.
The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped sees about 500 members a year using its assistive devices. The Singapore Association for the Deaf has also noted an increase in interest, with more than 1,400 members opting to try devices, out of its base of 5,600.
The Touch Silent Club set up a cyber centre in 2006 to cater to the emerging needs of the deaf, who have become much more tech-savvy, said the centre. It has 2,000 members who use the centre to search for jobs and prepare resumes.
'Apart from using their hearing aids, the deaf also tap the Internet and webcam to chat, and video call on their mobile phone,' said Mrs Wee Bee Hong, senior manager of the club.
The Assistive Technology Centre, set up in 2002 under the Society for the Physically Disabled, conducts between 100 and 115 new assessments each year of the gadgets that would be most helpful to an individual. It has 700 devices, a leap from the handful when it first started.
It is currently working with special schools such as the Rainbow Centre - Margaret Drive School to make devices that children can use to communicate, said the centre's director of technology, Ms Chia Woon Yee. Those who work with the disabled say that technology has become much more intuitive to use, and therefore valuable.
'Prices have also come down, making it more affordable,' said Mr Ando Yeo, executive director of the Singapore Association for the Deaf. One blind user, Mr Ng Choon Hwee, said specially made devices for the disabled used to cost twice as much as mainstream devices, which can be used now, with special software.
There are even computer tablets to help those with speech and brain impairments. They choose a symbol that represents what they want to communicate, and it is transformed into a sentence onscreen.
At the Apple App Store, a number of applications have been created for those with special needs. Besides those for the blind and deaf, there are applications for those with autism, dexterity problems and speech disorders. For example, iCommunicate helps autistic children to communicate, by letting them develop storyboards instead of text.
More than ever, the disabled are able to live and work like anyone else. Mr Ng works full time in a church office, using a computer with speech software and a Braille notetaker. Mr Kua uses his TranSGuide phone application to tell him when his bus is arriving.
'Now I do not need to rely on other people to look out for me, or go up every bus to ask the driver if it is my bus,' he said. 'Blind people are not restricted or helpless any more. In fact, many of us are becoming more social, getting on Facebook and also chatting using MSN or Skype.'
tanwz@sph.com.sg
Special devices let them lead more independent lives
By Tan Weizhen
MR KUA Cheng Hock, 55, carries or uses four gadgets on any given day, and is heavily dependent on them - just like any Singaporean, except that he is blind.
He has an iPhone: Its built-in Global Positioning System helps him to manoeuvre his way around. He also uses an application for using public transport. These are applications anyone can use, but once he turns on the touchscreen phone's accessibility function - a mode for the disabled - a voice reads out what he selects on the menus.
He also relies on a Braille notetaker, a newly bought Macintosh that he uses mainly to surf the Web, and an e-book reader.
Technology has become the great leveller for the disabled - as well as the non-profit groups that care for them - allowing them to venture into a world that was previously inaccessible. They are using specially tuned phones and gadgets, iPhone applications and video chats to achieve a measure of independence.
The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped sees about 500 members a year using its assistive devices. The Singapore Association for the Deaf has also noted an increase in interest, with more than 1,400 members opting to try devices, out of its base of 5,600.
The Touch Silent Club set up a cyber centre in 2006 to cater to the emerging needs of the deaf, who have become much more tech-savvy, said the centre. It has 2,000 members who use the centre to search for jobs and prepare resumes.
'Apart from using their hearing aids, the deaf also tap the Internet and webcam to chat, and video call on their mobile phone,' said Mrs Wee Bee Hong, senior manager of the club.
The Assistive Technology Centre, set up in 2002 under the Society for the Physically Disabled, conducts between 100 and 115 new assessments each year of the gadgets that would be most helpful to an individual. It has 700 devices, a leap from the handful when it first started.
It is currently working with special schools such as the Rainbow Centre - Margaret Drive School to make devices that children can use to communicate, said the centre's director of technology, Ms Chia Woon Yee. Those who work with the disabled say that technology has become much more intuitive to use, and therefore valuable.
'Prices have also come down, making it more affordable,' said Mr Ando Yeo, executive director of the Singapore Association for the Deaf. One blind user, Mr Ng Choon Hwee, said specially made devices for the disabled used to cost twice as much as mainstream devices, which can be used now, with special software.
There are even computer tablets to help those with speech and brain impairments. They choose a symbol that represents what they want to communicate, and it is transformed into a sentence onscreen.
At the Apple App Store, a number of applications have been created for those with special needs. Besides those for the blind and deaf, there are applications for those with autism, dexterity problems and speech disorders. For example, iCommunicate helps autistic children to communicate, by letting them develop storyboards instead of text.
More than ever, the disabled are able to live and work like anyone else. Mr Ng works full time in a church office, using a computer with speech software and a Braille notetaker. Mr Kua uses his TranSGuide phone application to tell him when his bus is arriving.
'Now I do not need to rely on other people to look out for me, or go up every bus to ask the driver if it is my bus,' he said. 'Blind people are not restricted or helpless any more. In fact, many of us are becoming more social, getting on Facebook and also chatting using MSN or Skype.'
tanwz@sph.com.sg
