What’s a truly inclusive society?
Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob has said having a ‘truly’ inclusive society is not possible, if people with disabilities are not taken care of. Madam Halimah said this in response to President Tony Tan Keng Yam’s inaugural address at the opening of the 12th Parliament.
She was speaking to reporters after attending an event at the Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore in Pasir Ris. “Leadership is very critical. And when we have more and more companies taking leadership, then I think it will create a momentum and amplify the pressure and put pressure on others to come forward and also employ people with disabilities,” she said.
Madam Halimah handed out a cheque for S$720,889 to six member charities. On Monday, President Tan had said Singapore should not just focus on economic growth and development. He said Singapore should also seek inclusive growth that benefits all citizens. At the event on Saturday, Madam Halimah said more was needed to help those with special needs.
It is so important to encourage companies and small businesses to hire disabled employees by granting them tax incentives and other financial rewards. Too many small to mid-size businesses in particular shy away from hiring disabled employees out of a fear of lackluster performance and future lawsuits and that really needs to be addressed and remedied!/em>
Leadership is very critical. When we have more and more companies taking leadership, then I think it will create a momentum and put pressure on others to come forward and also employ people with disabilities. Most importantly, companies and employers need to educate themselves on “invisible disabilities.”
Not only in Singapore but especially in the United States, small and mid-size businesses leave out disabled employees due to lack of incentives and litigation fears. These issues need to be addressed immediately and remedied. There are more highly capable and educated disabled members of our society than ever before. As a matter of fact, it is proven that disabled employees work harder and are extremely diligent workers. They also draw upon a special set of skills that non-disabled employees do not possess. It is really about time that they are treated as a great asset rather than as a tremendous liability/danger in the workplace. The double gifted disabled employee pool is one of the greatest untapped talent sources around. That said, I truly admire IBM (a very large company with financial incentives for hiring disabled employees) for their history and committment to hiring disabled employees. Obviously, they know something that the other companies don’t!