Cerebral palsy had rendered Jovin Tan's hands too weak to copy notes in class fast enough and he often had to borrow notes from his classmates. However, a simple note-taking device would be able to help him overcome this problem. Now, thanks to the new Assistive Technology Fund (ATF), Jovin only has to pay a small percentage of the $400 required for the device.

The $2m Fund was launched by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim on 31 October 2003 and is expected to help about 2,500 individuals pursue mainstream education or gain employment so as to be self-reliant.

The ATF provides financial assistance to needy persons with disabilities that would help them meet the high costs of purchasing assistive devices such as Braille laptops, speech synthesisers, vision aids, hearing aids, and magic wand keyboards. Up to 75% of the cost of the device or $10,000, whichever was lower, would be subsidised.

Disabled Singaporeans or permanent residents with a gross monthly income of below $4000, who were either enrolled in a mainstream school or employed on the open job market, could apply for the Fund. The fund can only be used to purchase devices for work or school.