SIT Computing Science graduate Dallon Au is envisioning a barrier-free world for persons with disabilities. He’s breaking down big problems into smaller, workable steps, to empower more students like him pursue higher education with the help of technology.

Dallon Au at SIT Convocation 2025.  (SIT Photo: Keng Photography/ Tan Wei Chun)

Dallon Au was born with visual impairment. Congenital cataracts resulted in total blindness in his right eye and a tiny sliver of vision in his left. But he’s never been one to let his disability hold him back.

Starting his educational journey at the Singapore School for the Visually Handicapped, Dallon slowly learnt to integrate himself into mainstream education despite the immense challenges he faced.

“As a person with visual impairment, I had to get used to simple things that didn’t automatically happen when I went to a mainstream school – like having people around who would instinctively help me pick up whatever I’d dropped on the floor, or having a reader and scribe to help me with reading my material and writing out my answers to tests,” Dallon shared.

Being able to graduate from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) with a degree in Computing Science was certainly no easy feat for him, and a huge step towards achieving his dreams to help make Singapore a more accessible place for others like him with various forms of disabilities.

He said, “As the very first person with visual impairment to graduate from SIT, I also hope that more students like myself will think that they too can pursue a degree and make an impact on the world around them.

Choosing SIT Felt Right

For Dallon, choosing a university was more than simply finding a programme that interested him and going through the application process.

Even seemingly simple tasks, such as navigating SIT’s online portal posed challenges in the beginning.

What drew Dallon to SIT, however, was its focus on applied learning, the Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP), and opportunities to embark on international exchange programmes. Despite the rigour and demands of programming, he was determined to apply for the course and make the most of the experience.

By some stroke of serendipity, SIT’s application process included a pre-admissions questionnaire before the actual online interview for Dallon to fill out, which proved to be instrumental in facilitating his entrance to SIT.

“The portal was not screen-reader friendly, so I was unable to navigate it properly from home. I was able to let the administrator know about the problems I faced when attempting this, and was thus allowed to come down to the university for a face-to-face interview instead,” he recalled.

During the interview itself, Dallon felt very encouraged. Instead of asking about his skills and competencies, the panel was more interested in asking about how they could support his learning.

“I wasn’t even a student yet, but they wanted to hear what my plans were for my Capstone project!” he said with a laugh. “It was a great confidence boost for sure, and it helped me feel that SIT would be a place for me to grow.”

No Challenge too Great

After completing his studies at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and later at a polytechnic, where he earned a diploma in Infocomm and Security, Dallon entered SIT well-prepared for the demands of the programme.

Even so, he soon discovered that keeping up with the pace of the field was no easy task. The coursework required reading and typing long lines of code, as well as analysing and interpreting abstract diagrams — all of which presented unique challenges.

Project work was particularly difficult at first. Due to his visual impairment, Dallon needed significantly more time to prepare before he could contribute effectively. “A task that took most people just a weekend to complete could take me twice as long because of the extra steps I had to take,” he explained.

Things began to improve when he found a close-knit group of friends who understood his constraints and made the effort to help him contribute meaningfully to their projects.

Dallon also describes his international exchange at the University of Glasgow as an invaluable experience that broadened his perspectives and taught him how to set healthy boundaries while testing his own limits.

“Experiencing how other professors taught programming, doing projects with international students, and just experiencing life by myself and everything it encompassed, from the fun moments living in the dorm with my friends to the everyday challenges of even making it to class on time without tripping on the cobblestone roads… It was definitely one of the highlights of my SIT experience,” he shared with a smile.

Making a Visible Difference in the World Around

Since graduating from SIT in October 2025, Dallon has been pursuing his dream to make our society more accessible for people with disability. This dream was many years in the making, as he took his first steps towards realising it during his IWSP at the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped (SAVH).

A proud moment for Dallon Au. (SIT Photo: Keng Photography/ Tan Wei Chun)

A proud moment for Dallon and his family. (SIT Photo: Keng Photography/ Tan Wei Chun)

“My IWSP experience provided a great head-start and helped me gain the confidence to advocate for and help persons with different disabilities access technology in the way they need,” he said. “I also learnt many lessons in problem-solving from my Capstone project, during which I attempted to create a digital PDF document signer for people with visual impairment. It was challenging but I pulled through, with the help of my mentor at SAVH.”

Today, he helps people with different disabilities learn how to navigate digital platforms and also conducts accessibility assessments on such platforms, as a Digital Accessibility Specialist at social enterprise Equal Dreams.

While he isn’t programming anything new at the moment, Dallon credits his journey at SIT for making it possible for him to start working towards his ultimate dream: of bringing down the barriers faced by people with disabilities in Singapore, one problem at a time.

He shared, “Breaking down even the biggest of problems into small, workable steps – that’s what SIT has taught me, and what I take into my work every day.”

“At the end of the day, I hope that more persons with disabilities will be unafraid to pursue an education that they want and deserve, just as I did.”

Hear from Dallon himself on his own SIT experience right here!