SINGAPORE - People with disabilities who are keen to upgrade their skills can now enrol in free courses in areas such as digital security and sales skills.
The new courses, launched on Thursday (April 21) by software firm VMware, are aimed at improving the employability of those with disabilities in an increasingly digital workforce.
Named VMware Aurora, the programme will work with and reach out to industry partners such as SG Enable, which supports people with disabilities, the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) and Temasek Polytechnic.
The initiative aims to help 1,000 people with disabilities over the next three years.
While the online courses are estimated to take a year to complete, they are self-paced, which means that participants can take however long they need to complete them.
Mr Chong Kwek Bin, head of advocacy, communications, employment and training at SAVH, said the association welcomes the effort to provide more accessible options for the visually impaired.
"It is hard to find suitable learning portals for persons with visual impairment, especially those with profound to total vision loss, as many websites and apps for this purpose are not compatible with the screen reader assistive technology that this group of individuals uses to access information," he said.
"Even for those with some residual vision, it may still be a challenge to make out the sometimes visually unclear and confusing presentation."
Speaking at a panel discussion at the launch of the programme on Thursday, assistant chief executive for SG Enable Ron Loh said that it is important to change mindsets among employers towards workers with disabilities.
"There's a lot of hesitation, like 'If I hire an employee with disabilities, would he be less productive?' I think the first challenge is about overcoming that," he said.
"It is really about focusing on the abilities of the employees, rather than focusing on the barriers."
Mr Immanuel Goh, deputy programme lead and design researcher for accessibility at the Government Technology Agency of Singapore, said: "It should be about redesigning the job, not redesigning the human. That's a fundamental shift in understanding what disability is. Accessibility is an innovation opportunity, not a problem to be solved."
The VMware Aurora programme is available for those with disabilities aged 17 and above who are citizens or permanent residents residing in Singapore.
Participants must have completed a secondary level of formal education, or must be graduating students of a local polytechnic or Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
