1. Equal Access - Creating a disability-
friendly workplace
Sham Majid - 23 Apr 2014
Singapore hasmade significant inroadsregarding the employment of People with Disabilities (PWDs).
Nevertheless, more can be done, as PWDs strive for meaningful job opportunities in Singapore
Employing People with Disabilities (PWDs) has been a thorny issue for many employers. From
fears of rising operational costs,perceived lower productivity levels, and uncertainty over how to
manage and supervise these staff, companies have long taken a cautious stance.
According to “A Better Bottom Line: Employing People With Disabilities”,a report for the association
of US State Governors, of the roughly 54 million Americans living with a disability, 20% are working
or seeking employment, as compared to nearly 70% of Americans without a disability.

2. In the UK in 2012, 46.3% of working-age disabled people were employed, as opposed to 76.4% of
working-age non-disabled individuals. That 30.1 percentage point gap, as revealed by the UK Office
for Disability Issues,equates to overtwo million people.
Closer to home, while both the public and private sector have continued working in tandemto roll
meaningful initiatives, PWDs are still struggling to secure meaningful employment in Singaporean
firms.
According to SG Enable, a Singaporean agency committed to serving PWDs, there are an estimated
10,000 work-capable PWDs aged between 18 to 35 years old in Singapore, of which 20% are already
in open employment.
“It appears that the PWD employment rate still lags behind mainstream,” says Nicholas Aw, President
of the Disabled People’s Association.“Some disability groups also seem to be disproportionately
unemployed or underemployed, such as the blind and those with intellectual disabilities.”
Challenges PWDs face in employment
The Enabling Masterplan 2012-2016 has been formulated by an official steering committee, which
involved representatives from the public, private and people sectors.It highlights the employment
outlook for PWDs in Singapore and elaborates on the different avenues and schemes available to help
PWDs into work. It also illustrates its key findings and proposed suggestions to improve the prospects
of PWD employment in Singapore.
The report has noted that employers have expressed concern “on the lack of supply of job-ready
PWDs”.
Three factors were listed as the possible reasons for the shortage of job-ready PWDs. Firstly, it was
acknowledged that several individuals with disabilities “lacked the requisite skill sets” of both
industry-specific skills and general employability.
The second group involved people with more severe forms of disability. While they may have
possessed the necessary skill sets required for the post,their condition meant employers had to make
crucial alterations in terms of “customised adaptation and job re-design”.
Finally, the third aspect was “mindset”. The report added that several PWDs, while acquiring the
requisite skills, “were not psychologically ready to take on available jobs”.
The second factor in particular rankles with Aw, who says his office is not PWD-friendly and does not
comprise of ramps or toilets for PWDs. He recalls having an intern who used a motorised wheelchair in
an office building not adapted to such devices.
Aw says she had to go to the office next door and use a narrow ramp to enter and exit the building. She
was also forced to use the MRT toilet as the office toilets were not designed for PWDs.
“Mind you, she is a bright student who aspires to be a lawyer and she has conditional offers to read law
at Oxford, UCL and Warwick. There are many like her out there but they have to be given the
opportunity to fulfil their dreams,” says Aw.
PWD policies and shortcomings
Under initiatives driven by the earlier Enabling Masterplan (2007-2011) The Open Door Fund (ODF)
and the Enabling Employers’ Network (EEN) were established to further enhance the employment
prospects ofPWDs.
The EEN, formed in 2007, has been a key driving factor behind moving PWDs into jobs.
According to the latest Enabling Masterplan, “the EEN has engaged more than 100 companies from
various industries,such as hospitality and food and beverage, to commit to more than 400 employment
opportunities for PWDs since April 2009”.

3. Presently, there are four dedicated Job Placement and Support agencies to offer PWDs with six months
of job support.While these initiatives are funded to afford six months of job training, many of them
continue to offer job support services beyond that maximum term.
Sheltered workshops are another form of employment outlet for PWDs who are deemed unqualified for
open employment. PWDs who gain employment in sheltered workshop are granted an allowance for
their work.
Considerable attention has also been paid to Special Education (SPED) students.The Masterplan report
noted that from 2008 to 2010, “an increasing proportion of (these)students have been placed in open
employment”.
According to the SPED Graduand Survey, 36 SPED students were placed in mainstream education in
2010, while a further 60 earned placements in open employment.
Nevertheless, Aw believes that the Enabling Masterplan 2012-2016 report is geared too much towards
SPED graduates and that employment prospects are weighted towards sheltered workshops.
“There is a dire need to examine the large number of PWD graduates with higher qualifications who
face discrimination and difficulties in getting employed,” he says.
The ODF may be tapped on for that goal. According to the Enabling Masterplan report, the scope of
the Open Door Fund has not been wide enough,with some stakeholders feeling “that more attractive
and sustained incentives could be given to employers”.
In addition, its application process has been described as “tedious” and may put off employers from
hiring PWDs, a key point to which Aw attests to.“One suggested change is to allow companies with
existing staff with disabilities to apply for the fund, instead of companies having to apply for it before
they hire staff, which is the case now,” he says.
Edmund Wan,President of the Handicaps Welfare Association,also believes that the ODF is in need of
restructuring. “Companies should hire based on their respective needs and not rely on incentives to
employ PWDs,” says Wan.
Dignity, not sympathy
Nevertheless, while PWDs continue to face obstacles in securing open employment in Singapore,
several firms have happily adopted PWDs into their working cultures.
Project Dignity Kitchen is one such enterprise. It is Singapore’s maiden hawker training school for
disabled and disadvantaged people and also doubles as a functional hawker centre open to the public.
Yeo Hiok Keat, General Manager of Project Dignity Kitchen, recalls a chastening experience in
Dignity Kitchen where PWDs were unintentionally made to stand out from their able-bodied
counterparts.
In 2011, the management made each of their PWD workers wear badges to illustrate what impairments
they had so that the public could understand theirdisabilities and exercise patience with them.
However, Yeo says the experiment bore disastrous consequences.
“People started looking at our PWD employees differently and business was very bad and we took off
the badges one to two weeks later,” he said. “PWDs do not want sympathy, they just want dignity
through working and earning their own salary.”
He stresses that the food they serve has to be impressive in its own right. “We do not want the public to
patronise the stalls (only) because they should care for charity.”

4. The issue of dignity also resonates with Aw.
He says employers should primarily “look at the ability, and hire on merit. “Disregard other irrelevant
factors; it’s not easy but they must focus on ability, not disability,” he says.
Yeo emphasises that his PWD workers are not treated differently as compared to their able-bodied
mentors. He says that PWDs are capable of undertaking the same tasks as able-bodied people and
should not be cast aside simply because of their disability.
“Most of the PWDs are very hardworking and willing to learn and we need to see the gift of the
trainee, and not look at their limitations,” says Yeo.
The Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre is another company that advocates the employment of
PWDs.
It currently employs 38 PWDs, comprising 15% of the workforce.
James Lee, Director of HR, Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, says the company’s staff with
disabilities do not receive special dispensations.“Once they have learnt the skills, they are not treated
differently, and they are not even singled out when serving the guests,” Lee says.“They do not wear
special name tags and the guests may not even be aware that they are PWDs.
“In the bigger picture, we help PWDs discover their sense ofworth and have thereby been able to make
a difference and contribute back to the society.”
Wan proudly recalls how a group of PWD trainees secured jobs in the architectural industry thanks to
the Handicaps Welfare Association’s Placement Centre for the Physically Challenged, an outlet to
prepare PWDs for open employment.
He says ten of them learnt architectural drawing with the help of a volunteerarchitect. They then
passed the exam of the Singapore Institute of Architects.
They also learnt to use Building Information Model (BIM) technology,a software used by all
architectural firms to submit their drawing plans to the Building and Construction Authority.
“Despite not having any background in architecture, they took the tests and cleared them and have now
secured meaningful employment by constructing and submitting plans using the BIM format,” says
Wan.
Wan, who has also overseen the training of some of his PWD workers to become bookkeepers,
emphasised the importance of job training.
“Employers do have a good intent to help PWDs, but sometimes they don’t do it with the correct
training,” he says.
Lee says that all of the hotel’s PWD staff are assigned a buddy to help them learn their roles quickly.
“The buddy or coach is specially trained in understanding the needs ofthe PWDs, and they are coached
to be patient and assuring,” he adds.
Debunking the myths
There is a long-held view that the employment of PWDs will result in extra operational costs for
companies. That is also dismissed by Yeo as a myth.
He says Project Dignity Kitchen does make additional adjustments,such as installing a small ramp in
each stall and enlarging the width of the stall entrance.
However, he stresses the importance of engaging in innovation, by citing an example.

5. The drinks stall in the centre has plenty of pictorial description to encourage the public to engage in
small sign language with the drinks stall attendant.“It is essential that we think out of the box and
innovation bears very little cost.
Innovation will push up productivity levels but we constantly go through ourwork processes because
every batch of PWD workers has different characteristics and they have to be treated differently,” he
adds.
Wan also concurs that PWD employees usually contribute to a high level of productivity.
He says they are “dedicated, loyal and add value to what they are doing.”
“In terms of productivity, it’s higher as they are willing to do more than what they are given and they
are a very stable group who won’t job-hop,” he says.
Lee feels that PWDs can also help elevate the critical shortage of manpower in the service industry, “in
alignment with the drive to reduce the reliance of foreign labour for the service industry”.
Shaping success stories
According to Aw, the need to promote such success stories is perhaps the most pertinent ingredient to
championing the employment of PWDs.
He recalls a foreign bank recently approaching his organisation,as it was keen on employing qualified
PWDs for an array of posts as part of a plan for corporate diversity.
“So, it’s not all doom and gloom out there,” says Aw.
He adds there needs to be more awareness and publicity of success stories along with the creation of
more avenues to tap onto job coaching and mentoring services by Voluntary Welfare Organisations.
“Maybe in the beginning but with time, most-if not all-will not ‘see’ the disability anymore. It’s a
matter of becoming used to the situation. The beauty of being humans is that we are endlessly
adaptable,” says Aw.
A dignified profession: Project Dignity Kitchen
Set up in October 2010, Project Dignity Kitchen is Singapore’s first hawker training schoolfor
disabled and disadvantaged people.People with Disabilities (PWDs) receive hawker training for six to
eight weeks, coupled with in-class theory lessons.Following this,they are attached to respective stalls.
Once they have learnt to cope with the rigours of working in a hawker environment, they are offered
ongoing placements. They earn an allowance during the course of their training and working stint in
Dignity Kitchen.
Yeo Hiok Keat, General Manager of Project Dignity Kitchen, says they have a mixture of about 10
full-time and part-time PWD staff and another group of seven currently under training. The majority of
them will be placed with commercial entities after their stint at Project Dignity Kitchen.
According to Yeo, since October 2010, more than 140 PWDs have taken jobs in commercial
enterprises through the Kitchen. That’s out of 180 who have undertaken the training.
“We train them in commercial settings and improve their social skills with customers before they go to
work in commercial entities. We want to train them in real working environments so they are prepared
for the working world outside,” says Yeo.

6. Telecommuting: The key to solving the PWD unemployment conundrum?
If results from a recent US survey are anything to go by, telecommuting could well help bridge the
employment gap in Singapore between able-bodied workers and People with Disabilities (PWDs).
According to a national survey by private-public cooperative Think Beyond the Label, eight out of 10
(81.1%) workers with disabilities claimed that telecommuting was a vital workplace benefit. It ranked
second in terms of most desired workplace benefits (39.3%), ahead of healthcare and commuting
spending programs (14.2%), onsite fitness centres and services (2.0%) and free or subsidised meals
(0.8%).
Paid time off (42.5%) emerged as the number one benefit. Interestingly, 67.1% of the workers with
disabilities surveyed said they would take up an offer at a firm even if it did not offer
telecommunicating options.
In terms of productivity, 73.5% said they felt that telecommuting made them more efficient in their
work while 70.6% claimed they did not need assistive technologies to aid them in their work.
SG Enable: Forging partnerships with PWDs and firms
Set up in July last year, SG Enable is an agency dedicated to enabling persons with disabilities
(PWDs). Besides enhancing employability and employment options,the organisation seeks to
empower them and their caregivers by providing easy access to information and referral services. It
also works to engage the wider community, to advocate a more inclusive society.
SG Enable prepare PWDs for employment by facilitating the interview and job search processes,and
providing them with essential job skills. Working in close partnership with Voluntary Welfare
Organisations and training providers, SG Enable supports PWDs in vocational assessment,pre-
employment training, including vocational skills, job placement, job support services and continuous
education and training.
SE Enable also supports the EEN initiative, an alliance of employers who champion for more
employment opportunities for PWDs. Through systematic planning and engagement, SG Enable
matches manpower demand and requirements of employers with the supply of work-capable, job-ready
persons with disabilities.
- See more at: http://www.hrmasia.com/content/equal-access-creating-disability-friendly-
workplace#sthash.l6zrSrXB.dpuf