Title: Overcoming Youth Disability in Singapore
Focus: Young disabled citizens and stigmatization [focus on young people]
A Speech written for Think Centre Disability Rights Forum 2004
Close your eyes and imagine yourself as a young person in Singapore today.
If you are in a secondary school, think of the concerns you might have. They could include peer pressure among friends to dress in an acceptable manner; parent’s expectations of your performance in school; subsequently deciding what to pursue after your ‘O’ levels; adolescence angst at what you feel is wrong with society; burgeoning awareness of your sexuality which could cause doubts, discomfort and embarrassment.
Now. Get out of that shell and imagine yourself as a disabled young person. What do you think are your issues?
Certainly, you will have to deal with similar problems as mentioned and even more. Considering that the disability segment of our population is a minority. Disabled youths are a minority within a minority, making them less visible in society. Hence, you could feel alienated and separated from mainstream society. A more immediate concern would be your future. Would you be able to pursue the higher education you wanted or be hampered by the lack of adequate resources in terms of resources and support?
Fast forward a few years later. As an able-bodied young person joining the workforce, you will need to compete with other graduates and more experienced existing workers in getting that job. The downturn of our economy is distressing. You are willing to accept lower pay, longer working hours, turn to other less conventional career paths such as becoming a stall hawker, tuition teacher or a taxi driver, just to make ends meet.
If you are a disabled young person, you will face similar but more daunting challenges with an additional hurdle to cross. You could face discrimination during the interviewing process.
This discrimination is apparent in Singapore as most of us have little or any close contacts with anyone with a disability unless we have someone with a disability in the family, a friend we know or volunteer for a disability organization.
Most of us would agree that the general population lack that contact. Because we do not “see” them, we unconsciously believed in “myths” with regards to people with disability; and most of them fallacious – that they are a group of people who are unable to perform well at work; fall sick more frequently or need additional help at the workplace.
Statistics however has shown that disabled people use less sick leave than able bodied employees. Disabled people do not need additional help with work. Some may however need devices that will make the workplace “disable friendly”. Most of them would have undergone some form of training and are equally equipped and knowledgeable to handle work issue and pressures.
In other words, the greatest challenge for people with disability in Singapore is to change the mindset that most of us have towards them. Their disability should not set them back.
This is crucial for disabled young people as they are often impressionable and at the learning stages of life. They are most susceptible and sensitive to how the general public views them. Being young, they are idealistic and believes they deserve the same human rights like every other young Singaporeans. Which is the way it should be.
I believe there are many approaches to deal with the stigmatization of disabled youths and I have listed a few.
First and foremost, the public needs to be educated about disability because there is a general lack of awareness about the topic. We need to know what disability is, and what it is not, dispel the myths and misconceptions; learn how to communicate with them.
Another area of concern is the voice of the disabled youths. Disabled youths will continue to feel marginalized if their opinions are not heard. There is a lack of current feedback mechanisms for disabled youths. The Remaking Singapore Committee, as an example, has no disabled participants or made any suggestions with regards to how to make disabled people feel at home in Singapore. There are no disabled youth organizations in Singapore and we have no laws that protect the welfare of the disabled.
Disabled youth needs a medium because they want to be heard. It is important to have their opinion as they would better understand the issues of what they are facing; hence, able to give more constructive criticism and comments on how we can level the playing field between the disabled and non-disabled in Singapore.
Perhaps of highest importance to overcoming prejudice is the interaction among disabled youths and their similar age group able bodied counterparts. A youth organization could organize activities which will include the participation of disabled youths with similar interests. Conferences and seminars with regards to youth issues could be organized with participation from disabled youths.
We can only overcome prejudice with regards to a minority group only when we know an individual in the minority; acknowledge and accept the differences, before we can even start talking about achieving equal human rights. Disability or not, human rights is universal.
Charles Tan
