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Singaporeans More Accepting of People With Disabilities: Survey
Straits Times Indonesia | January 16, 2012

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Singaporeans today are more accepting of people with disabilities as part of the community, workplace and everyday life. This is according to findings by the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), which conducted a nationwide survey to gather the public's perception towards people with disabilities.

This study, which mirrors an earlier survey conducted in 2009, is part of the SPD's on-going 'I Accept' campaign which aims to encourage members of the public to accept people with disabilities as equal members of the society.

Key findings include a considerable improvement in the public's perceived barriers in communicating with people with disabilities. 25.3 percent of the respondents indicated that they think it is harder to communicate and deal with people with disabilities than able-bodied people, compared to 43 percent in 2009. The number of people who feel that people with disabilities are dependent on others has also significantly decreased from 47 percent in 2009 to 13.4 percent in the 2011 polls. 61.7 percent disagreed with the statement, up from 39 percent in 2009.

On the employment front, a whopping 80.3 percent of 61 respondents, who are in a position to hire, are open to employing people with physical disabilities.

On the other hand, only 8.8 percent of respondents felt that people with disabilities are unable to perform as well as people without disabilities at work - a sharp decrease from the 23 percent in 2009.

A total of 904 respondents aged between 15 and 65 took part in the initiative, which consisted of both street and online surveys. This was conducted from the end of November till the end of December 2011.

The survey also revealed encouraging signs that Singaporeans seem more ready to play an active role in accepting people with disabilities. Over 65 percent stated that they had assisted someone with disabilities in the last 12 months. As many as 90.2 percent indicated that they would not hesitate to help people with disabilities if they saw someone who needed help. 60.8 percent also agreed that disabled children should be studying in mainstream schools alongside children without disabilities.

The SPD's efforts to level the playing field for people with disabilities includes the Infocomm Accessibility Center (IAC), a center managed by SPD, which was formed through a People-Public-Private initiative between Microsoft, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, National Council of Social Service and the Tote Board.

As the only center in Singapore that provides information technology (IT) training across disability types, the IAC has offered more than 4,300 training places since its inception in July 2008 to help the disabled find greater independence through securing jobs of higher value.

More than 1,200 persons with disabilities have since received IT training at the Center. For more information on the IAC, please visit http://www.iacentre.org.sg

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.