I was glad to take part in this Infocomm Accessibility Centre (IAC) tour. Before this tour, I don’t even know what is IAC or what it does. After this tour, I hope my blog post can help people to understand more about IAC and what it can do to help people with disabilities. And more information on Tweet Meet at the end.

The IAC is located at 2 Peng Nguan Street, SPD (Society for the Physically Disabled) Ability Centre.

It is a part of Singapore that most people would not have noticed. If not for this tour, I think I will never get to know this place. The bigger picture about the tour is to let the public understand that such place exist and more importantly, to reach out to people with disabilities that they can still upgrade their skills with their conditions. I love their slogan.

Know Somebody, Grow Somebody!

It is simple yet to the point. If you know somebody with disabilities and you wanted to help, “Grow him” by letting him/her know/attend the various courses available (at super affordable rate!).

Our first stop is one of the training room. We were greeted by Ms Lee Hui Lin, Asst Director of IAC.

She explained to us about the various courses and up and coming event at IAC.

BTW, the picture on her left are actually students who had successfully found jobs after attending those courses.

The focus of the tour is to let as many people as possible to know that there many IT courses available. And the skills learned from these courses can be applied on their future jobs.

As you can see (above), Microsoft’s presence in IAC is huge. In fact, many of the courses that were conducted are certified.

The IAC was officially launched in 3rd July, 2008.

With the help of Microsoft, customers and partners, the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Technology Lab was created.

There are many training rooms for various purposes. You can take a look at their IT courses here. There is also IT Apprenticeship Programme (ITAP) that can further enhance those skills and increase employment options.

Our first stop is to the Video Editing room. In this room, it has many high power Mac computers for students to perform editing jobs. They will learn from video capturing, storyboarding, editing and etc.

Here is part of a video clip that they have done together with students.

After watching, I have to admit, I could not do such editing. Below is a simple flow chart on what they will/can learn.

Moving along, we went to another training room, Digital Music Room.

In this room, students were taught how to make music using software like Cakewalk.

And in the next room, we learned that students can also learn basic skills like using basic office equipments (scanners, printers) and software like Microsoft Word.

They have also bigger area for training like the one shown below.

Next, we went to their Specialised Assistive Technology Centre.

This centre caters the needs for people that are physical challenged. It helps by assessing them for various on the market products for their daily needs, loaning of devices, modification of existing devices to cater to the needs and of course create awareness through public education efforts.

We spent the most time here. Going through those gadgets make me realized that many of us take things for granted. This centre actually helps physically challenged people perform tasks through technology and special enhanced gadgets.

Look at these keyboards. They are specially made to cater for individual needs.

High contrast color keyboard.

The Pathfinder keyboard that replace alphabets with pictures.

This is keyboard that has acrylic on it.

The user will need to don a head wear with a pointer in front.

He/she will then use this pointer to key in the letters.

These are just part of the “collections”.

When someone come to the centre, they will try their best to assess the person to cater to his/her needs. They can then help to recommend the vendor to purchase the product (they don’t sell products here). Or they can even rent it for a period.

We tried a few of the gadgets and I must admit, you will need a lot of practice and patience to use them.

Our first demo is the footmouse.

You will wear it on your foot and use it like a mouse.

To click the mouse, there is a separate pad.

Here is a close up of the scroll wheel.

Here is a short demonstration clip.

Moving on, we reached another station that uses a webcam and an eyewear to move the cursor.

Basically, the webcam tracks the dot on the eyewear.

This is the silver dot on the eyewear.

So, the user will sit in front of the camera and move the mouse.

Technically, you can use any glasses instead of this sunglasses as long as the dot is visible.

You will then use an onscreen software to determine the action that you wanted.

Holding on to the a position for 2 seconds will activate the action. Believe me, it is NOT EASY.

Our next demo is a simple button and an onscreen keyboard.

This is for users who cannot type. By using this button, they are able to select the letters that they wanted.

There is a timer for the onscreen keyboard to move. First it will move horizontally (row) and when you see the words you wanted in the row, click on the button and it will move vertically (column). Once it reaches the letter that you wanted, click on the button again.

Here is another interesting one.

The keyboard.

The aiming device that you wear on your head.

Point the device on the keyboard to enter the words.

In this centre, there are also wheelchairs that can cater to different people.

And the centre can do simple modification to existing toys or hardware.

Here are some of them.

I have made a short clip on the tour.

Summary

Thanks to the tour, I have really learned a lot and learned not to take things for granted. Infocomm Accessibility Centre (IAC) is creating an opportunity for any physically challenged person to learn new IT skills. In my opinion, these skills are important as technology advances. With these new skills, the opportunity to get a job becomes higher.

With their Specialised Assistive Technology Centre, people with special needs can get assessed, loan devices for trial and make better informed decisions about those Assistive Technology devices.

I did mentioned to them about the accessibility of IAC. As I mentioned earlier, it is quite out of place. IAC knows that and they have special vans at Tiong Bahru MRT Station to pick up anyone who wish to visit IAC.

Furthermore, they can perform house visit or even arrange transportation to and from your home at special subsidized rate.

About Tweet Meet

IAC is organizing a Tweet Meet (It is actually a big Tweet Up picnic!) on 26th June 2010, 4pm to 6pm. Tweet Meet will include social networking training at the IAC for people with disabilities. During the Tweet Meet on the 26th June, there will be some live events. Be sure to check out the time-table.

For the first 100 who sign up for Tweet Meet on the 26th June will win a picnic bag.

Click Here to IAC Tweet Meet Site

Do follow @TweetMeetSg on Twitter. There is a contest on-going now. The top 10 twitterers that share the most tweets about this #TweetMeetSG event will get to win prizes.

Do join them on Facebook.

Click Here to IAC Facebook Page

I will be going to the event on the 26th June. Hope to see you there!

BTW, if you think anyone can benefit from reading this post, please spread the words.
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