Project Mission

Mission

The mission of this project is to address the significant need related to the knowledge and information empowerment of people with disabilities in order to ensure their full participation and inclusion at all levels of society.

The National Accessibility Portal will be a one-stop information, services and communications channel that will support everyone involved in the disability field. Functionality envisaged includes:

• Making available all disability-related information in all official SA languages (SA legislation, up-to-date statistics, available jobs, use of special equipment, access-free advice, sports/cultural events, health and rehabilitation issues, medical services and advice, international links, etc.);
• Information management facilities for councils, organisations, government departments and health professionals in order to ensure current and up-to-date information;
• Providing free online training material, both domain-specific (interactive training on disability products, such as wheelchairs, bath lifting devices etc.) and ICT-related (effective usage of ICT and job creation opportunities in the ICT sector);
• Sophisticated communication facilities (via email, voice, webcams, and eventually once bandwidth restrictions are overcome, via video). The NAP project will also employ novel new technology solutions to enable disabled persons to overcome specific interaction challenges. Examples include conversion from text to speech (TTS) and speech recognition (supporting blind users) in South African languages, conversion from text to South African Sign Language and Sign Language recognition (to assist deaf users) and capturing and communication of limited movement instructions between a physically disabled person and an electronic device;
• E-commerce facilities enabling disability-related products to be ordered and paid for via the internet; and
• Statistics related to disabilities will be made available via the system and all people with disabilities will be registered on a national grid system. This will enable new forms of government services – such as improved logistics and provision of transport to people with disabilities (for example, to schools and clinics) and improved planning.