‘We will surpass expectations’

People with disabilities call for a fair shot at work

- Shermaine Ang

On his third day as a customer service executive at an education centre, Mr Warren Sheldon Humphries was told by the branch manager to pack up and go as his bearing "traumatised" students. He has mobility issues and walked with a gait.

In his next job as a trainer at a train-and-place company during the Covid-19 pandemic, his boss did not hesitate to let him go once the work started to move offline.

Mr Humphries, 54, has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes the progressive loss of muscle tissue and the sense of touch, and now uses a wheelchair.

While incidents like these are rare now, they illustrate plainly the persistent attitudes that prevent Singapore from reaching its goals of a disability-inclusive workforce.

On Sept 16, recommendations were announced to help 4,500 more people with disabilities in Singapore get jobs by 2030. Several task forces were set up under Singapore's Enabling Masterplan 2030, to support those with disabilities and enable them to contribute to society.

A task force set up to promote inclusive employment laid out plans to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities through gig work, and to better equip job coaches.

Another task force looking at community living announced that up to 250 adults with disabilities will join a pilot in the next three years, where they receive support, including care and coaching services, to live independently in the community.

Mr Humphries said he was unemployed for two years during the pandemic, and volunteered as a tour guide at an event at the Enabling Village. A man who was on his tour turned out to be the founder of travel agency Tribe Tours, and later offered him a job as a tour guide.

Today, Mr Humphries gives tours at the Enabling Village and on Sentosa.

"We broke the tourism paradigm that only able-bodied people can do this job," he said.