A SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM is taking place this Saturday in Kuala Lumpur.
It will be attended by nearly a hundred participants.
More than half of them will be persons with visual impairments. They will include people with partial vision, low vision, the elderly with failing eyesight and those who are completely blind.
The rest will make up of sighted individuals. About forty of them will be students from Malaysian Multimedia University in Cyber Jaya.
The brainchild of the symposium is 57-year old Yam Tong Woo who hails from Sungei Buloh in Selangor.
Yam serves as a volunteer chairman of the MAB’s Cyber Club. This is the second year that he has been elected as the club’s head since it was started three years ago.
The purpose of setting up the club – and holding this week’s symposium – is for the same chief goal: to help the blind get started on the information technology super highway in order to raise their quality of lives as persons with disabilities.
Speaking to Wheel Power in an interview early this week Yam pointed out that one of the best and proven methods of getting the blind on the Internet is to bring them together to share how their lives have significantly improved since they got online.
“Our symposium will showcase some of the latest technologies and software which is available in the market today that are user-friendly to the blind as well as those with poor vision,” explained Yam who is totally blind himself.
The cyber club has nearly a hundred members from all over Malaysia. The organising team of the symposium say that they are greatly encouraged and excited that people from as far as Penang and other states have already signed up to attend this weekend’s event.
“The role of communication technology and IT knowledge can never be overemphasized when it comes to the disabled community, particularly the blind,” Yam pointed out.
“They are a lifeline for us when it comes to helping us come to terms with our disabilities, accepting ourselves and then moving on forward from there,” he said.
Yam who suddenly lost his total eyesight two years ago within a span of a mere week recalls how extremely difficult it was for him and his family to find the support that they badly needed.
Despite his disastrous fate, Yam managed to make an incredible comeback within a mere 12 months after he became blind. This was largely through the miracle and the unlimited power of the Internet, he attested.
“Today the Internet has become a major part of my life that helps me do things that I never did even as a sighted person, like re-learning to play the guitar on YouTube,” Yam laughed.
Yam strongly believes that IT technology can greatly enhance the lives of the blind that no other present technology can.
“The blind can go anywhere they want in cyberspace and retrieve any information when they want instead of only depending on the traditional methods like the radio or Braille-recordings of magazines or books via audiotape to keep them informed or entertained,” he said.
“Instead of limiting themselves to the usual jobs such as masseurs or telephone operators, the Internet can open up a whole new world for the blind.
“It all depends on the entrepreneurship and creativity of the individuals where the sky is really the limit,” said Yam.
“The latest phone technology with a built-in screen reader has been a tremendous boon for the blind in being able to independently receive and send out messages.
“However, our local Telcos and service providers can do much more by giving better discounts to make ICT affordable by all disabled persons instead of only some of them.
“Just as international passports and road taxes for the disabled are given free of charge to the handicapped, something very similar – or perhaps even a flat rate of RM5 for all services should be given for subscribers with disabilities,” concluded Yam.
This Saturday’s symposium starts at 9am and will conclude at 4pm. It will be held at the MAB in KL. For more information, please call Yam at 012 305 3853 or email him at yamtw05@gmail.com
The End
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