STI pushes hiring of blind in transcription industry
TECHNOLOGY school STI is hoping train blind people to work in the medical transcription industry.
Under STI's ATTRAC (Adaptive Technology Training, Resource and Access Center) project, six visually impaired students are being trained in medical transcription. After their training in STI, they are expected to take the regular employment test at Total Transcription Solutions (TTS).
Malou Espina, STI vice-president for corporate officers said the six started their training in January. "They are the first batch under the new transcription program. They are also being trained in medical terminologies used by American doctors."
Under the medical transcription course, students are trained in the basic use of a computer, software such as Microsoft Office, and the use of the Internet and e-mail.
Students are also trained in English grammar and in the use of audio playback software. She said STI would want to see more visually impaired people employed in companies engaged in outsourcing, though she admits transcription firms were still reluctant to hire blind people.
"We'll see if those employed in TTS prove to be efficient, and from there we can find out in what areas we can improve. Eventually, companies will be convinced that blind people are as efficient or even better than regular employees," Espina said.
Aside from ATTRAC, another project of STI for the visually impaired includes the recent National Trainers Training Program (NTTP) that trains visually impaired people in the use of some computer applications.
One application being promoted in NTTP is JAWS (Job Access with Speech), a program that lets blind users operate computers using spoken commands.
Those trained under NTTP are expected to train other visually impaired people in other areas of the Philippines.
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