(Borneo Post; November 13, 2010)

KUCHING: None of the 130 government agencies websites in the state are user-friendly to the blind and visually-impaired persons.

Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) Chief Executive Officer, Dato Teo Tien Hiong yesterday explained that limited human resource was the main reason those websites were not able to meet the standard.

Nevertheless, the State government had started to improve web accessibility for blind and visually-impaired person by exposing web developers to related knowledge and skills at a four-day workshop.

"In general this (non accessibility to blind and visually-impaired persons) is an area we had not given enough emphasis to before, but now with this (the workshop), we are able to.

"One reason we were unable to before is that throughout the state government agencies, we don't have many or any person able to do it. So, with this training of over 20 agencies at least would make people able to make thier website more to the blind and visually-impaired persons friendly," Dato Teo said

Speaking at the press conference after the closing of the Web Accessibility Workshop at SAINS Training Center here, Dato Teo said SAINS would work closely with Information and Communication Technology Unit (ICTU) in the Chief Minister's Department to improve web accessibility for the blind and visually-impaired persons.

"We intend to make it part and parcel of public websites. I believe the state public sector is fully committed for this to be achieved within a reasonable time," he said.

On the possibility of extending the workshop to the private sector, Dato Teo said it could be done by collaborating with non-governmental organisations such as Sarawak Society for the Blind (SSB)

The workshop saw the participation of 30 government officers from 20 government agencies. It was a collaboration among SAINS, ICTU, National Council for the Blind Malaysia and SSB.

It was for web developers to better understand the needs for the blind and visually-impaired persons in relation to internet websites, as well as furnish them with knowledge to develop and update websites easy for the blind and visually-impaired persons to access.

It was for the government to realise the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act with regards to equal access to ICT for persons with disabilities.

SSB President Dato Dr. Hsiung Kwo Yuen said it was his dream that one day the Blind and visually-impaired persons could be internet traders and contribute to the economy of the nation.

SSB had given training to the blind and visually-impaired persons to use computers but they had limited access to information.

"Even the blind and visually-impaired persons know how to use computers, but how are they going to access information? We want them to be able to access information because ICT is the window to the world," he stressed.

"We want to train at least 40 blind and visually-impaired persons a year to be equipped with computer skills. Definitely the number would be increased because we are aggressively moving into the area of ICT training for blind and visually-impaired," he said, adding that over 100 had been trained in the past three years.

SSB has a computer training centre in Kuching. "It is also our intention to give all trained blind and visually-impaired a computer each. We have given about 40 computers. With the limited capacity, we have to do it slowly," Hsiung said.