KUALA LUMPUR: The government is ready to tie up with the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) and NGOs for persons with disabilities to increase access to information and communication technology facilities for the group.
Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said Malaysia was behind developed nations in providing access to ICT facilities for people with visual impairments.
“Visually-impaired people now use various digital mediums to obtain information, including applications developed by major companies such as Google and Microsoft,” she said in her speech at the launch of World Braille Day 2023 yesterday, Bernama reported.Also present was MAB chief executive officer Datuk George Thomas.
Teo said the collaboration between the ministry and MAB as well as other NGOs could be expanded through awareness programmes on the rights and needs of the visually-impaired community so that they were not marginalised.
She said the ministry would continue its efforts to raise awareness to help persons with disabilities (PwD).
Teo told a press conference later that the ministry was also working to ensure that PwD could benefit from the digital economy.
“The development of the SaveME 999 DEAF and SaveME 999 BLIND applications is also one of the initiatives to help people with visual or hearing impairments to call the 999 emergency line,” she added.
