THE PROBLEM
Part of the problem stems from a mischaracterisation of disability. There’s a tendency to equate disability with visible signs of physical impairment, overlooking the challenges faced by those with invisible disabilities.
A person in a wheelchair, missing a limb or holding a white cane is recognisably disabled and it is likely that a member of public will offer them assistance. Persons with invisible disabilities, however, may experience the same daily difficulties, but without the awareness of others.
Invisible disabilities include chronic pain disorders, cognitive dysfunction or mental illnesses that impact on a person’s well-being in ways that require careful, individualised accommodation.
Singapore’s policies have begun to address the needs of this group, but more work is needed.
One example is the LTA’s Helping Hand Scheme, which started in 2019 and now includes lanyards that persons with invisible disabilities can wear on public transport to let people know they need the seat. But as CNA reporter Grace Yeoh found when she put it to the test in 2023 and was left standing, commuters may not always be as responsive as one might hope.
One roadblock to inclusion lies in how we think about persons living with disabilities.
Arthur Frank, in his 1995 book The Wounded Storyteller, writes about the different narratives of illness. He describes something called “the restitution narrative”, which in many ways reflects how we view disability today.
In this narrative, illness (or disability) is seen as something to treat and overcome, which doesn’t reflect the reality for many living with visible or hidden disabilities. This conflation between disability and illness can create a sense of pity among people in the community. But pity is far from empowering. In fact, pity can be paralysing.
Think of the commuters on the MRT looking at CNA’s Ms Yeoh. They may have understood that the lanyard indicated a hidden disability and may have felt some pity for her condition. But pity is not sufficient to guide action. It was not obvious to them what action would be appropriate in response.
This is not surprising. As author Susan Sontag describes in her book, Regarding the Pain of Others, compassion and pity are unstable emotions, and if they are not translated into action, they wither into apathy. When it isn’t clear how we should respond to the pain of others, it is easy to do nothing at all.
Let us return now to the Paralympics. This is one prominent example where society has embraced people who have managed to overcome the odds and achieve something remarkable despite their impairments.
But here we also need to be careful.
There is a risk that when we overfocus on people who have overcome their disabilities in some extraordinary way, the implicit message being perpetuated is that a person with disabilities ought to strive to take on the same roles and achieve the same things as an abled person.
This leaves persons with hidden disabilities doubly invisible when their lives do not align with socially accepted markers of success.
