Enhancing Digital Accessibility to Public Digital Services for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities

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.

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.