Integrated home for autistic adults needed in Singapore

Integrated home for autistic adults needed

 

The Straits Times

www.straitstimes.com

Published on May 11, 2014

 

YOUR LETTERS

 

A few months ago, I came across a heart-rending video that told the story of a mother's journey with her 27-year-old autistic son. It highlighted the urgent need for an integrated and permanent residential home for the 19,000 autistic adults in Singapore.

Currently, there is no residential home that can support a spectrum of autistic adults. This is compounded by a lack of trained manpower, which has been exacerbated by the current sentiment against hiring more foreign labour.

Many of these autistic adults are still living at home with their parents, until the latter can no longer physically care for them; or they are placed in homes meant for the aged or mentally ill people - this is certainly not a solution but there are no other options available.

After talking with some parents of autistic adults, I realised that the current textbook-based curriculum for special needs might have to be reviewed.

Autistic adults are better off if they are equipped with simple life skills and trained in practical skills like housekeeping or gardening, so they can take up such jobs. It gives them a chance to fill a gap where there is a shortage of labour, while allowing them to lead more purposeful lives.

Pathlight School currently supports autistic people up to age 18. However, adult life for them is just beginning and we must do more to help.

I appeal to parents of autistic adults, the relevant agencies, companies, trade associations, social enterprises and volunteers to come together and see to fruition an integrated home with training facilities for these children.

Lisa Arlando (Mrs)

46 firms lauded for hiring disabled workers

46 firms lauded for hiring disabled workers

They spent extra effort on training, placement



By Leslie Kay Lim
Straits Times 24 March 2012

TWO questions pop up when employers consider hiring disabled workers - will they be up to the task and can they get along with co-workers?

But companies which have hired such staff said these challenges can be overcome by investing in more training and making sure tasks and responsibilities are a fit for them.

Yesterday, 46 companies were recognised for their efforts and commitment in hiring people with disabilities at the second Enabling Employers Awards held at Marina Bay Sands.

The event, organised by the Enabling Employers Network, was attended by President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob.

One recipient of the Leaders Award - Fong Shen Mould and Precision Engineering - started hiring people with disabilities five years ago. Now, such workers comprise around 15 per cent of its staff of 70.

Its managing director Leow Pee Lip said many employers hesitate to hire such workers because they wonder if they can perform adequately.

Fong Shen's approach is to observe the disabled worker at the workplace in the first two weeks, and then rework the job scope accordingly.

'In today's economy, everyone wants to be best at the job tomorrow,' he noted, highlighting the fact that spending a little more time on training and placement makes a significant difference.

Another company, Project Dignity, runs a hawker training school for the disabled and has placed more than 50 people in the last 1-1/2 years.

Taking advantage of their talent is key, said executive director Koh Seng Choon, who cited an example of a blind employee's excellent memory in holding down a job as a hawker cashier.

While tapping technology to boost productivity in the workplace helps, two award recipients - KFC and Han's - also noted that co-worker interaction and communication is important in fostering a conducive work environment.

Fast-food chain KFC, which has seen around 300 deaf employees pass through its doors over the last 10 years, makes sure its staff attend sign language classes.

'Clearly, we're all in this together,' said its chief executive officer Michael Gian.

Food and beverage operator Han's, which employs 46 hearing-impaired and intellectually disabled workers, worked with consultants and special education experts to help prepare the other staff members.

Its deputy general manager Gan Yee Chin said the performance results speak for themselves. 'These people don't weaken our profitability. You can see all our costs are down.'

llim@sph.com.sg

Special Needs Savings Scheme

Special Needs Savings Scheme
The Special Needs Savings Scheme (SNSS) allows parents to set
aside a portion of their CPF savings for the long term care of their Children
with Special Needs.
The SNSS was conceived by the Ministry of Community Development,
Youth and Sports (MCYS) in partnership with the Ministry of Manpower and the
Central Provident Fund Board (CFPB) in 2010.
Upon nomination, their special needs children will be able to
receive monthly disbursements from their parents’ CPF savings account upon their
demise.
The scheme will be administered by
the Centre for Enabled Living from early 2012.

Currently, a deceased
person’s CPF savings in the Ordinary, Special, Medisave and Retirement Accounts
are distributed to his/her nominated beneficiaries as a once-off lump sum
payment in cash or to the nominees’ CPF account.
Under SNSS, at the point of application, a
nominating parent can determine the level of payouts he/she wishes his/her child
with disabilities to receive upon his/her demise. When the parent passes on, the
nominated child with disabilities who qualifies for SNSS will receive these
pre-determined monthly payouts until the deceased parent’s savings are
exhausted. Both parents of an eligible child with disabilities can participate
in the SNSS.
Who
The nominating parent applicant may be the parent
or an appointed legal guardian and the person with disabilities have to both be
Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents at the time of application.
The person with disabilities has to:
Require assistance in at least 1 Activity of Daily Living (ADL)*; OR
Have attended or is attending a Special Education (SPED) school.
*The six ADLs are – washing, dressing, feeding, toileting, mobility, and
transferring.
HowWhen the
scheme is in operation in early 2012, parents may approach us at the Centre for
Enabled Living for more information.For more information, please read
the FAQs
or you may contact CEL at 1800-8585 885 or email to schemes@cel.sg.

Financial Planning for Persons with Special Needs

In a mass media release by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) on 10 March 2010, it was announced that there will be a new scheme called the Special Needs Saving Scheme (SNSS). Currently, any payout upon death of the CPF Member is made in one lump sum to the beneficiaries or held by Insolvency and Public Trustee if the beneficiaries are still minor. Under the SNSS, the CPF Member can specify the payout in installment to their children who are Persons With Disability (PWDs) instead of lump sum. This scheme is targeted to be introduced in 2011 and will be administered by the Centre of Enabled Living (CEL) which was set up in November 2008 by MCYS.

As the details are yet to be officially released, there remain a few questions in every parent’s mind. These concerns are:
1. Are the monthly payment fixed in quantum once the CPF member passes away? Will the CEL have the legal power to vary the payout depending on the situation of the PWD and inflation factor? For example, if there is an urgent need for a major operation, will the CEL have the leeway to increase the payout for medical expenses? If the payout is fixed in installment, frankly speaking there is not much value add since a computer program can be used to simply transfer monies from CPF to the recipient automatically without human intervention.
2. If the CEL has the power to vary the payout, on what basis will it do it? Will it have to abide by guidelines provided by the deceased?
3. Some PWDs have certain mental incapacity. For such cases, the recipient of these CPF monies will have to be someone else such as a court appointed deputy. The question is whether the CEL will monitor how these monies are spent by the deputy? Will CEL be willing to blow the whistle once it suspects deputies abusing their responsibilities?
Finally, will CPF monies be sufficient for the PWD? Based on my experience doing financial planning for clients, Singaporeans do not have much CPF monies in the first place. There is a Singapore saying, "no money no talk". On July 30 2005, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, now currently the Minister for Finance, said in his speech at Taman Jurong Community Club that in 2004, only about 40% of active CPF members were able to meet the CPF Minimum Sum. To me, this is consistent with empirical evidence that Singaporeans are asset rich but cash poor. Properties purchased using CPF monies are not subjected to the CPF Nomination. Hence, if the SNSS is going to be part of the CPF Nomination framework, it will have to be realistic about the actual quantum of CPF monies which is available. For younger CPF Members, their contributions to CPF are skewed towards CPF Ordinary Accounts which are mostly used for mortgage installments. Hence, young parents who pass away earlier in life may not have much monies in their CPF for SNSS to be used as a viable instrument for their children with special needs. For older CPF members, the bulk of their CPF will eventually be used to purchase the CPF Life. If the CPF Member wishes to leave a meaningful sum for the purpose of using the SNSS, they will have to select the CPF Life Basic Plan. CPF Life Basic Plan has the highest bequest but the lowest annuity amount. In this case, the retirement needs of the CPF Member is being compromised.
Personally, I feel that the CPF monies are being used for too many purposes. CPF scheme can be used for housing, education, medical insurance premiums, retirement and now to fund the needs of CPF Members’ children with special needs. The cake is being sliced too thinly. It is obviously not possible to fully rely on CPF monies to achieve so many objectives in Singapore. As for the SNSS, it may be better to use the simple approach. Since the amount in the CPF is probably going to be low, would it not be better to simply use the existing CPF Nomination framework and bequest the entire CPF to Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC) to manage? SNTC is the only non-profit trust company in Singapore set up to provide trust services for the benefit of persons with special needs (PSNs). SNTC is jointly supported by the MCYS and National Council of Social Service. The SNTC already has a system to address these three concerns mentioned above. This simple approach does not require CPF Board to do anything as it simply piggybacks on the existing CPF Nomination framework.
However, bequeathing the entire CPF to SNTC will not be enough. The quantum from CPF is too small due to its use for so many other purposes. The solution to this is that for parents whose child is PWD must to do some financial planning on their own. SNSS is one of the many tools parents can use. But before deciding which tools to use, there must be a game plan. The game plan is a comprehensive financial planning approach. Parents whose child is a PWD also have other constrain faced by many other Singaporeans such as the need to save for their own retirement, education needs of their children, paying off the mortgages and the on-going fear of retrenchment when the next economic downturn comes. To put things in perspective, if a PWD lives for another 20 years on the passing away of both parents and if the monthly expenditure is $1000, the present value of this amount is $240,000 assuming inflation and investment returns are equal. This is not taking into account medical expenses which tend to increase faster than the average inflation. Certainly the budget that parents must set aside is not small. The numerous priorities that parents have to juggle often increase the confusion and the outcome is simply procrastination. Schemes such as SNSS and trust services offered by SNTC are tools that can be used under the regime of Estate Planning. Estate Planning is part of the larger picture of Comprehensive Financial Planning which considers all aspect of a person’s financial situation. Parents in such situation will need to do a Comprehensive Plan themselves. Alternatively they can always seek professional advice. There are a few such professional planners in Singapore and they do this on a fee basis.

Special-education schools' first grads

Certification opens job opportunities for them

By Janice Tai
TWO special-education schools here have produced their first batch of graduates with nationally recognised qualifications.

Some students from Metta School and Delta Senior School, having gone through a five-year course, now have national vocational certification that has opened up employment opportunities for them in areas such as housekeeping and food preparation.

Of the 96 of them, all with mild intellectual disabilities, 84 have landed jobs.

This education programme, a result of tie-ups the two schools made with the Institute of Technical Education and the Workforce Development Agency, is aimed at ensuring that such students continue with training and then employment after they finish school.

The graduates of the programme have been welcomed by employers, who say they have the skills needed for the jobs they do.

Added Ms Kim Ong, the executive housekeeper of Crowne Plaza Hotel at Changi Airport: 'By employing special-education students, the hospitality and food and beverage industries can alleviate their manpower crunch as well.'

Han's Cafe and Holiday Inn off Orchard Road have also taken to hiring these job seekers: 10 per cent of the 400 employees at Han's are former special-education students; at Holiday Inn, 8 per cent of the 282 employees have disabilities.

Both employers plan to increase the number of such workers.

Mr Chua Chin Kiat, who chairs the Enabling Masterplan Steering Committee, which makes recommendations to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, to step up the integration of such individuals into mainstream life, described the programme as a 'positive step' towards helping these individuals find jobs.

To run this programme, the facilities in both schools were upgraded at a total cost of $30 million to include mock hotel rooms and industrial kitchens for students to train in.

Former Delta Senior School student Muhammad Reedzwan Mohd Zain, now a service assistant in serviced-apartment chain Fraser Place, said: 'Although the industrial kitchen I trained in was bigger than the one I eventually worked in, it was good that the environment was familiar, and the kitchen skills I picked up could be transferred over.'

He has progressed to creating a yogurt fruit salad that now features in the chain's breakfast buffet.

And Mr Idwan Abu Sharma, also from Delta, has gone beyond his job as a houseman at Holiday Inn to mentoring new trainees from special-education schools.

Former Metta School student Chia Wei Xuan, who has a skills certificate in food preparation, said it was a bit of a struggle when he started out as a member of the service crew at Han's Cafe last year.

'Every week, my class ended at 2pm, but I stayed back until 5pm with the chef, who went over the cooking steps with me,' said the 20-year-old.

Besides becoming more financially independent and boosting their confidence, employment has enhanced their overall independence.

Take Ms Nurul Asyikhin Ismail, 20, now a laundry assistant at Crowne Plaza Hotel. When she started work, her teacher had to accompany her to show her which bus and train to take to work.

'It was quite scary at first,' she said.

But she now gets to and from work on her own; her mother also lets her manage her own monthly pay.

Metta School vice-principal Anuwar Abdul Wahab said: 'Before the certification was introduced, these students did not have many job opportunities. Now, many of them have jobs and are paid better, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education and the National Council of Social Service.'

It was announced last week that a steering committee will be set up to see what else can be done for those with disabilities over the next five years, including helping more of them make a seamless transition from school to employment.

jantai@sph.com.sg
Copyright © 2011 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

Young people with disabilities could be given more training and job opportunities to help them make the transition from school to the workforce.

By Judith Tan, 21 Sept 2011

Young people with disabilities could be given more training and job opportunities to help them make the transition from school to the workforce.

This is just one of the areas being examined by a new steering committee set up to meet the needs of the disabled over the next five years.

At the moment, the Government works with firms and voluntary groups who run training and employment programmes for school leavers.

The 32-member committee, chaired by former director of prisons Chua Chin Kiat, wants to build on these schemes. It also aims to identify any gaps and plug them, so those with disabilities can transfer smoothly from classroom to workplace.

‘We want to make sure that after their education, the disabled continue with employment and training opportunities,’ Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing told reporters yesterday. ‘We want to make sure there is a seamless transition for people in this sector so they get cared for in a continuum.’

Disabled youngsters are typically educated at special schools such as Pathlight School and Grace Orchard School. When they leave, usually around the age of 18, they can be taken on as trainees with establishments such as Holiday Inn.

Beyond that age, some of these adults have fallen through the cracks.

These are just the people who could be thrown a lifeline if more schemes like the one run by Holiday Inn are set up. Eight per cent of the 282 employees at the chain’s Orchard Road hotel are disabled.

‘They work in both the back end such as the kitchen and housekeeping, as well as dealing directly with customers,’ said general manager Kanchan Kanwar. She added that the target is to have them make up 10 per cent of the workforce.

The longest-serving disabled employee is cleaner Edward Wong, 43, who has worked there for 21 years. ‘I stay with the hotel because I get to learn a lot from my colleagues and I can be independent,’ he said.

Yesterday, Mr Chan visited Holiday Inn’s centre for training and integration in Orchard Road. The minister praised employers ‘who have gone out of their way to provide training and employment opportunities’ for the disabled.

He said the Government’s latest Enabling Masterplan, which will run until 2016, is expected to be ready by early next year.

‘We want to develop a greater variety of operational models to fit people with different abilities,’ said Mr Chan. ‘Some would require a bit more government involvement, others a bit more private. We are all prepared to have different models to cater to the different needs.’

He told the media he has appointed Mr Sam Tan, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, to oversee this sector.

Mr Tan said he is looking forward to taking on this portfolio, adding that disabled people can be just as productive as their able-bodied peers ‘given the right platform, right training and right environment and support’.

Colonel Milton Ong, deputy chairman of the new committee, said: ‘We have identified three key focus areas where we think more work needs to be done, namely early intervention, education and employment, and adult care.’

He added that the aim is to help disabled people maximise their potential ‘and embrace them fully in our society’.

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reprinted with permission.