Foundation for IT Accessibility celebrates 10 years of activity

The annual general meeting of the Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility held a few days ago celebrated 10 successful years of activity and progressive growth of the foundation which supports the use of technology by people with special needs.

The event, presided over by Stephen Spiteri, Parliamentary Assistant in the Ministry for Education, Employment and Family and Michael Farrugia, opposition spokesman for ICT, was well attended by government and industry representatives, as well as a number of disability NGOs and individuals.

The audience also comprised key players in FITA’s initiatives, including service users, business sponsors for specific initiatives, collaborators from education and the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), as well as representatives from Go and Melita with whom FITA this year has established targeted service offers.

In his introductory speech, FITA’s chairman Claudio Grech gave an overview of the foundation’s key operations this year. He said that ICT is a very important tool for improving the quality of life of all citizens and FITA has an important role in bringing together government, business entities and different NGOs, in order to channel resources in a way that effectively benefits all stakeholders. He went on to stress the importance of disseminating awareness about all the work being done by FITA and its partner organisations, so that more and more people can benefit from the service resources being made available.

Joseph Camilleri, chairman of the National Commission Disabled Persons (KNPD) and a FITA board member, stated that through help by the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) and the KNPD, important programmes and initiatives are being put in place to improve the quality of life of disabled persons.

Stanley Debono, CEO of FITA, thanked the foundation’s service users and partner organisations that supported FITA throughout the year and made their presence felt at the event. “Businesses increasingly understand the added value of delivering an accessible service or product that is in line with society’s expectations,” he said.

In 2011, FITA consolidated its consultancy and support services into a single helpdesk service. This enables it to provide a holistic approach to the client’s needs by automatically presenting a comprehensive list of applicable services and resources that match the client’s requirements. The FITA helpdesk addressed more than 460 requests this year, ranging from basic queries about e-government services, to ICT training and ICT accessibility certifications.

The event also hosted a number of stands portraying live demonstrations of FITA’s projects and deliverables. These include the Assistive ICT Pool, the development of educational software in Maltese, and the latest prototype of the Maltese speech synthesis engine, partly funded by the EU, which is also available at www.fitamalta.eu.