FITA steps up ICT training programme

The Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility (FITA), founded jointly in 1999 by the National Commission Persons with Disability (KNPD) and the Malta Information Technology and Training Services (MITTS), is a non-governmental organisation responsible for making IT accessible to persons with disability.

With a staff complement of only two, the FITA has made great inroads as an advocate for ICT literacy among people with disability.

FITA's principle role is supporting the disabled to overcome and remove barriers to education and employment through ICT. However one of the foundation's main objectives is the provision of training services in ICT to people with disability.

This focus on ICT training has become a key aspect of the foundation's work and two distinct impairment groups have been identified: those people who are visually impaired and those with intellectual disabilities.

Michael Micallef, a blind person, who is responsible for the entire service, has formalised the process.

Open to individuals who are registered with the KNPD, training is carried out on a one-to-one basis and can (if required) begin from basic computer awareness, leading to word processing, audio editing, Internet-based services, research and communication.

Following a successful pilot project, the FITA, together with the Malta College for Art, Science and Technology (MCAST), also runs courses for people with intellectual disability, or those with communication problems.

The programme includes basic courses in computer office skills and has since led to other more challenging courses.

The European Computer Driving License (ECDL) is one such course that FITA runs in conjunction with MCAST and the Education Division with the help of STMicroelectronics.

Structured around seven ECDL core modules, it is now in its second year and is an EU-based qualification teaching users how to use MS Office tools.

The Computer Society of Malta collaborated in converting the standard examination paper to simplified Maltese, with the result of 12 students with disability recently sitting for the ECDL Module 2 examination and achieving the relevant certification.

ECDL is a basic requirement for knowledge workers within the civil service and today an average of 20 intellectually disabled students apply each year.

By increasing empowerment and social inclusion, the foundation has demonstrated that people with disability have become more self-reliant and conversely less willing to lean on traditional support structures.

FITA clients have become more independent and more able to contribute productively to society and the economy.

In its attempt to minimise the digital divide, FITA also actively seeks to disseminate information to the widest possible number of potential clients notifying them of which ICT products and services they may avail themselves.

For more information visit www.knpd.org/mittsfita , where you can subscribe to the FITA newsletter or alternatively contact the executive co-ordinator at stanley.debono@gov.mt

FITA operates from Gattard House in Blata l-Bajda.