Disability is the topic of the final of my six Parliament speeches for Budget COS 2021. There’s always so much more to do - exciting and a tad anxious sometimes with the passing of the days. Big thanks to everyone who cares!

SPEECH ON DISABILITY (MSF CUT SPEECH 2021) by Denise Phua

I am thankful for the Government’s support for the disability sector over the last 15 years.

In an adjournment motion I filed in October 2020, I called :

• for society to change the way it views Persons With Disabilities or PWDs;

• for key gaps to be addressed ; - for more public reporting and;

• for more inclusion of voice of PWDs in policy making.

(See https://www.facebook.com/712393482108026/posts/5136161863064477/ for Oct 2020 speech )

I wish to speak on 2 other topics today.

First, on ENABLING MASTERPLANS FOR THE DISABLED

The Singapore Government has supported the development of 3 5-year Enabling Masterplans for the Disabled. These Masterplans list recommendations to enable PWDs to realise their potential and to become integral and contributing members of society.

The current Masterplan will be expiring this year and a new one is expected.

I thus would like to seek the latest update for the current 3rd Enabling MasterPlan.

I would also like to propose suggestions for the next Enabling MasterPlan :

• Current Enabling Masterplans take a life-cycle approach and cover general disability issues. But the needs of different disability groups are not homogeneous.

  I hence propose that the next Masterplan also incorporate the inputs of each major disability group.

  The Autism group has just completed their own enabling masterplan which I hope will be supported by Government and the rest of society.

  By encouraging each major disability group to take ownership, study the landscape, prioritise their top needs and invite solutions and partners, the national Enabling MasterPlan will be all the more relevant and richer in content.

• Masterplans that are 5 years long have to be constantly updated and reported to reflect the latest achievements and challenges. The last published EMP3, for instance, was not updated with the most significant change of our time, the COVID pandemic.

STRENGTHENING DISABILITY SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES (SSA)

Many of the early intervention, special education and services for PWDs are run by SSAs. They provide disability expertise and harness the support of their community assets.

Beyond programme grants, Government has been supportive through measures such as government matching of charity donations through the 250% tax exempt benefit; and the latest Change for Charity initiative.

I call for Government to provide more tailored support to its Partner SSAs.

Smaller SSAs will need greater support in resources such as shared services in fundraising, human resource, volunteer management, financial reporting.

LARGER SSAs, too will need support. It is a fallacy that larger charities do not need help nor they will naturally do well on their own.

Just as DPM has encouraged the support of Larger Local Enterprises (LLEs), so should the same be considered for Larger SSAs

Some specific ways of support include:

• Identify and support Larger SSAs as they scale or develop deeper capabilities to move into new essential territories. Seed and better support the Social Enterprises of Large SSAs so they can help meet target social bottom lines important for the community such as jobs in sheltered or supported worksites.

• Pay or co-fund Corporate Services such as the CEO and key finance, technology and HR positions so that they can focus on and excel in their core services.

Most donors do not fund important corporate services but these are essential for compliance, growth or governance.

• Help Larger SSAs safely generate better returns from their reserves which are sometimes large because of the need to save to pay for recurring high-cost services such as day activity centres.

Consider setting aside percentage of Government Savings Bond or Infrastructure Bonds for the larger SSAs.

CONCLUSION

The only way to predict the future is to help create it. The disability sector needs as much help as it can get. The Government cannot do it alone.

Watch my full speech here: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/parliament/videos/march/committee-of-supply-2021-debate-day-6-denise-phua-on-improving-14342256?view=embed&autoplay=1&fbclid=IwAR2v1HqkhAzBuXoVGMzAkwg0hiYDn1Gm9C122zlKRXeW3T6TkumVDynrPNE