Wheelchair Accessible Bus (WAB) in Singapore

Via SBS webpage:

Wheelchair Accessible Bus (WAB)
Singapore’s first Wheelchair Accessible Bus (WAB) is now available on Service 21. To find out the timetable of WAB trips, select Service 21 from the Basic Services drop-down box below. Alternatively, you can also make use of our *Send 655 to find out the next WAB bus arrival time at your selected bus stop (applicable for SingTel users only).

(www.sbstransit.com.sg/transport/trpt_bus_timetable.aspx)
Last accessed 9 Oct 2006.

The issue of “accessibility” should be seen holistically, imho. We may build accessible libraries, but a person with physical disabilities (e.g. wheelchair) would face a myrid of physical obstacles just getting out of the house, and getting to the library — getting from your HDB flat to the ground floor; getting into a vehicle; making your way to the library if your mode of transport doesn’t bring you right to the library.

Delivery services provided by the library and getting volunteers to be the go-between are some options, but some people with physical disabilities prefer to have control over where they want to go. And transportation has to be affordable. Hopefully we’ll see more of such buses, at least on routes to MRT stations.

Technorati Tag: wheelchair bus

Google Video offers Closed Caption playback

[UPDATE 31 Dec 06: I've since learned that "Hearing Impaired" is not a preferred term. I should use "Deaf" or "Hard of Hearing". Thanks.]

Learnt via the Official Google Video Blog about this new feature:

By now, you may have noticed that we’ve just introduced a small but significant new feature that many of us have long awaited: playback of captions and subtitles! If you haven’t tried it yet, you can go to this page, select a captioned video, and while playing it you can click on the [CC] symbol to turn captions on and off.

What’s Closed Captioning? Try this page for an explanation.

The Closed Captioning feature in Google Video will be a boon to those who are Deaf or Hearing Impaired Hard of Hearing, especially when services like Google Video and other similar video-sharing platforms are gaining popularity. To appreciate why features like Closed Captioning are important to a person with hearing-impairment the Deaf, try this experiment:

0) IMPORTANT - First, set your computer volume to zero.

1) OK, let’s say you are hearing impaired hard of hearing or deaf. You are interested in learning about Fractals. You’ve found this video (30secs). Go ahead and play the video. Suppose there was a narrative in the video. You wouldn’t have known, would you? (Incidentally, that particular video doesn’t have any narrative or music. I’m using it for illustrative purposes only).

2) Next, view a similar video on Fractals, this time with Closed Captions (continue to keep your computer volume at zero). Did you get more out of this video that the first one? NOTE: Click on the “CC” button if you do not see the subtitles.

3) Finally, you can turn your computer volume control up to view the second video again. I think the Closed Caption is useful for people who can hear, don’t you think?

Ken Harrenstien (who authored that Google Video post) says their Closed Captioning feature is still far from perfected. I feel it’s a start, so it’s all good. Ken concludes his post:

And you, too, can help! Please do send us your comments, bug reports, or suggestions; whether or not you think they’re new, your collective feedback will be invaluable in helping us promote these capabilities and guide our decisions on which features need to be done next.

See what others are saying, via Technorati Tags: google video, closed captioning

Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) regains IPC status

I was at a meeting with four people from SAVH last week. Their interim president Mr. Tan Guan Heng (who is Blind himself) mentioned to me that SAVH regained their Institute of Public Character (IPC) status, which would be reported in the press shortly after our meeting. They obtained the IPC status on Monday 25 Sept.

SAVH had its IPC status suspended by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) since January 2005. Now that it has its IPC status bacl, it is now trying to convince NCSS to re-support it financially. In anycase, anyone who wishes to make donations to SAVH can obtain tax-exemptions. Oh, I have to blog this too: The librarian colleague I mentioned in this post was mentioned by the SAVH reps at my meeting with them last week They remembered her name. I could tell that they were grateful that my colleague donated money to their library even when their IPC status was revoked.

Today, I emailed to NLB’s ASK! service for the references to the news report. My colleague Isaak happened to be duty and he provided reference, which I’ve reposted here.

News & Journal Articles (Full-text available via Factiva, which is accessible through the Multimedia services in NLB libraries):

Charity regains IPC status
www.todayonline.com/articles/144148.asp
TODAY (Singapore), 22 September 2006 - THE Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) has regained its right to collect tax-exempt donations after being dogged by governance and financial woes more than a year ago.

SAVH says it has improved its financial and governance systems
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/232673/1/.html
Channel NewsAsia, 22:34, 26 September 2006 - The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) says it has implemented better financial and governance systems. It adds that stability within the executive committee and staff has also returned.

No wrangle as rival charities share tasks
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/232741/1/.html
Channel NewsAsia, 07:33, 27 September 2006 - SINGAPORE: Instead of crossing swords, two competing charities have joined forces to streamline and coordinate their services and programmes for the visually handicapped. The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) will transfer its sheltered workshop programme and case management of troubled clients to the Society of Moral Charities (SOMC) by the end of next month.
[Also via www.todayonline.com/articles/145078.asp

Charity for blind getting back on track
Straits Times, 27 September 2006 - Association now plans to reapply for NCSS funding. THE Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) has crossed one major hurdle by regaining the right to collect tax-exempt donations, but another challenge lies ahead.

Charity for the blind regains IPC status
Straits Times, 22 September 2006 - It gets back right to collect tax-exempt donations with its improved governance. THE Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) is beginning to get back on its feet.

Technorati Tag: SAVH, donations

AWWA launches new programmes to give support to the disabled

This was from the Channelnewsasia.com article (18 Jul 2006), reporting on the official opening of the Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) new premises at Lorong Napiri in Yio Chu Kang:

Some new programmes were also launched to provide more support for the disabled.

A group of youths with special needs is among the 40 students who will benefit from AWWA’s before and after school care centre.

The centre is the only one of its kind catering to children with multiple disabilities, be they physical or intellectual. It is one of the programmes being launched, together with the opening of its new $14.7 million home, by President S R Nathan.

“For the caregivers centre, it’s because we realise that in Singapore, we need a lot of support for caregivers. One of the things we’ve done is that we have a special support group for parents whose children are on a very long national waiting list for early intervention for their children with special needs. We give them intervention and training techniques as to how to support their kids at home,” said Anita Fam, board member of AWWA.

Physically disabled youths will also be given the opportunity to set up their own niche businesses at the AWWA Business Access Centre.

They will be given training in the fields of real estate, banking & finance, as well as computer systems. They are also given internships to help them learn the ropes and eventually start their own businesses.

“I’m a freelance web designer. Right now, Business Access outsources jobs to me. In the future, I hope I can set up a web designing company,” said Eric Loo.

A Regional Resource Centre on disabilities will also open here next year.

Source: CNA, Singapore News -
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/219918/1/.html

Technorati Tags: awwa, awwa singapore, singapore, asian women’s welfare association

If you want to make a donation to the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH)

The subject of making donations to organisations serving the disabled came up during a brief email discussion with 2 of my colleagues. I was asking if Singapore School for the Deaf (SSD) accepted donations in cash or kind. Then my colleagued mentioned about the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH).

I told her I’d post the information she shared in sgLEAD, so here it is:

This page is from SAVH on ways to donate to SAVH. For those who wish donate specifically for their library, pls specify your cheque to “library services”. From the ‘Donations‘ page:

New Library Services
The library loans out braille and audio books/reference materials/magazines, descriptive videos, and music CD. The fund is used to purchase / produce more materials, to give our clients more up to date information and more reading choices.

My colleague added that because SAVH had to give up their IPC status (due to recent events), it means SAVH (at this time of posting) cannot collect tax-exempt donations — which means anyone choosing to donate to SAVH would not be able to obtain tax exemptions during the annual income tax declaration exercise. My colleague also adds that the SAVH library is, in her opinion, in a poor state of affairs. While donations might not change the situation immediately, a little bit might help, especially if one just donates out of the kindness of giving.

Technorati Tags: savh, library disability services, donations

Almost Weekly Round-up

Here’s this week’s summary from the sgLEAD discussion postings:

1) Accessibility: The Current Situation and New Directions (July 2005)

Re-discovered this article that a colleague sent to me (Jul 2005):
“Kevin Carey describes accessibility by disabled people to digital information systems across broadcasting, telecommunications and the Internet, looks into the future and makes recommendations.” … [Read More]

>>

2) Project Gutenberg’s Distributed Proofreaders (PGDP)

Shared by Yi Lin: “PGDP is a support site for people to volunteer, taking part in the process of making an e-book as proofreaders for the OCR scans from the books. Own time own target. Very interesting way of volunteering at the comfort of own home. “Preserving history, one page at a time.” [Read More]