Enhancing Digital Accessibility to Public Digital Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities
Ministry of Digital Development and InformationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Lee Hong Chuang’s inquiry about enhancing digital accessibility for seniors and persons with disabilities to navigate essential public digital services. Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo explained that Government Digital Service Standards were recently updated to improve usability and compatibility with assistive technologies. GovTech Singapore launched the A11y Playground website to provide assessment tools and checklists for inclusive design, complementing existing tools like Oobee that suggest accessibility improvements. The Minister also mentioned that communities like Tech Kaki facilitate citizen feedback, ensuring that digital government services remain relevant and accessible to users with diverse needs. Furthermore, a "digital first, but not digital only" policy ensures that physical service touchpoints, hotlines, and ServiceSG Centres remain available for citizens who require in-person assistance.
Transcript
30 Mr Lee Hong Chuang asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information whether there are plans to further enhance digital accessibility for seniors and persons with disabilities to navigate essential public digital services.
Mrs Josephine Teo: The Government is committed to ensuring that all citizens, including seniors and persons with disabilities, can easily access and benefit from digital Government services.
Digital accessibility is an ongoing effort. Agencies are required to design and develop digital services that are: (a) accessible and inclusive; (b) usable; and (c) relevant to users’ needs. To strengthen these efforts:
a. The Government's Digital Service Standards were enhanced this month to place greater emphasis on usability and accessibility. For example, ensuring that digital content can be accurately identified and read by assistive technologies, so that persons with disabilities can navigate public digital services more effectively.
b. In July this year, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech Singapore) also launched the A11y Playground, a website that provides developers, designers, and digital service owners with a suite of assessment tools, such as a technical checklist, to support adoption of inclusive design practices. This is in addition to existing tools, such as Oobee, which assesses websites’ accessibility and suggests improvements.
c. Citizen engagement communities, such as GovTech Singapore's Tech Kaki, bring together individuals with diverse needs to provide feedback that help make digital Government services more accessible.
While we work to include everyone digitally, we will continue to adopt a “digital first, but not digital only” approach. Citizens who need in-person support will still be able to receive assistance at Government agencies' physical service touchpoints and hotline services, and at ServiceSG Centres.