Inclusive Singapore Campaign Proposal for Rainbow Centre

Proposition:

This proposal aims to help Rainbow Centre raise awareness among Singaporean

parents about the discrimination faced by children with special needs – such as dyslexia and

Asperger’s Syndrome – through the use of advertisements, roadshows and open houses.

Preface

Rainbow Centre does not actively educate the public about the discrimination faced

by children with special needs. The community outreach programmes currently offered by

Rainbow Centre cost $80 to $170 to attend (“Community”). Hence, the public will find the

programmes unappealing due to the high registration fee. This is concerning as the number of

special needs children enrolled in mainstream schools has nearly tripled from 2006 to 2015

(Tan). In order to promote an inclusive and cohesive school environment, there is a growing

need for the public to be educated on such discrimination.

Although Singaporean parents support the idea of an inclusive society, they are still

uncomfortable interacting with disabled children. According to a survey commissioned by

the Lien Foundation, as cited in the Straits Times, revealed that although 49% of parents

believe that it is important for the law to promote the rights of disabled children, only 10%

are confident in interacting with them (Tai). This is because parents who do not have special

needs children are not well-informed about what it means to have special needs. Hence they

make their own uneducated assumptions about special needs children which eventually leads

to discrimination against such children.

 Thus, I propose three efforts to fight discrimination against special needs children by

reaching out to Singaporean parents and raising awareness about the issue. Firstly, a series of

online and offline advertisements which showcase the discrimination children with special

needs face when out in the public. The advertisements, which will feature stories told by the

Rainbow Centre children themselves, will integrate both traditional media and digital media.

The second suggestion is to host educational roadshows at shopping malls and community

clubs which allows parents to meet specialists as well as parents who have special needs

children. Lastly, I propose that Rainbow Centres located in the heartlands hold an open house

for the public which will give parents and their children the opportunity to meet and learn

more about special needs children in a safe environment.

Position

Right now, Rainbow Centre has not actively reached out to parents who do not have

special needs children. Outreach programmes offered by Rainbow Centre, such as the Family

Empowerment Programme and OOSH, focus only on parents who have special needs

children (“Therapy and Outreach Services”). However, from 2013 to 2015, the number of

special needs students enrolled in mainstream schools increased by 5000. Hence, even

parents who do not have children with special needs will interact with them. Thus, it is

essential to also educate these parents (Lim).

Rainbow Centre’s existing few programmes, which are targeted at the whole

community, all cost money which make them ineffective in educating as many people as

possible. Rainbow Centre’s community outreach programmes cost $80 to $170 to attend. Due

to the steep price, people may not want to attend these programmes or they may not be able

to afford it at all. Thus, the number of people who are educated on the plight of special needs
children is greatly reduced. Rainbow Centre’s other community campaigns only involve

fundraisers which are put up on the website, GIVE.asia. There is little to no educations

written about special needs children through these campaigns (“Rainbow Centre”).

The short animated film Tamara, created by HouseBoat Films, was uploaded on

YouTube, a popular broadcast media, to show viewers that special needs children have

dreams just like any other child and did not involve any monetary transactions (Marino).

Tamara tells the story of a girl of the same name who dreams of becoming a dancer,

Unfortunately, she was born deaf: however, she is not discouraged and with the support of

her mum continues to dance. The video was uploaded to YouTube on 9 February 2014. It has

garnered over 8 million views, 94 thousand likes and 5 thousand comments. However, the

video was only tagged to the category Film & Animation which is already extremely

saturated with videos. Hence, it would be difficult for viewers to stumble across the video.

Thus, the message is not spread as far as anticipated.

Problem/Potential

If Rainbow Centre does not educate parents on the discrimination faced by special

needs children, problems will arise in mainstream schools. As the number of special needs

students enrolled into mainstream schools has grown from 13 000 in 2013 to 18 000 in 2015

(Lim), without properly educating parents about special needs children, it will be much

harder to integrate them into mainstream education. Moreover, children learn from their

parents. An experiment done by Michigan State University showed that from the age of two,

children will begin to imitate the behaviour that they see around them (Shrier). Thus, they are

likely to imitate the discrimination shown by their parents towards special needs children.
Due to this acquired attitude, children may make insensitive comments about their peers who

have special needs.

By educating parents, they will become more aware about the present stigma against

children with special needs and will hopefully be more considerate towards them which can

help to improve their school lives. In a survey commissioned by the Lien Foundation, as cited

in the Straits Times, 1 in 3 parents of special needs children reported hearing insensitive

comments made about their child (Ng). These insensitive comments can cause children with

special needs to become less confident when spending time in community spaces such as

school. This puts additional burden on their parents. Hence, through education, the stress

faced by special needs children and their parents is hoped to be alleviated as special needs

children are able to learn alongside their peers without fear of judgement.

Possibilities

The first suggestion is to release a series of offline and online advertisements. The

first set of advertisements will be posted offline to emphasise the fact that special needs

children are no different from other children. These advertisements will be placed at bus

stops and train stations which are near primary schools as well as at bus stops near secondary

schools. These advertisements will feature drawings made by the Rainbow Centre children.

These children will be asked to draw their dream occupation and explain why the love that

occupation in a single sentence. Their explanation will then be placed at the bottom of the

advertisement with their name, age and condition at the bottom right corner. All the words

will make use of Chalkduster font in black. This is to evoke the message that special needs

children have their own hopes and dreams just like any other children. The second set of

advertisements will be television commercials posted online and they will highlight the
discrimination faced by special needs children who are enrolled in mainstream schools. The

video will be share on Facebook which is a popular social media platform among adults aged

25 to 34 (“Distribution of Facebook Users”). Hence, the parents of primary school children

would be more likely to see the television commercials. The commercials will tell the life

stories of those with special needs who went through mainstream education. For example,

one commercial will focus on a girl named Chelsia who has dyslexia. She is sent to a

mainstream school: however, she struggles to cope due to the bullying she faces. As the story

progresses, it will show how she overcomes such mistreatments and her takeaways from the

experience. By telling real stories, a personal touch is added to the commercial. Hence, it is

easier for parents to sympathise with special needs children.

The second suggestion is to hold roadshows at shopping malls and community

centres. The roadshows will have a workshop for specialists to provide parents with more

information about special needs children. The first segment of the workshop will explain to

parents what defines a special needs child while the second segment of the workshop will be

used to debunk myths that society has about children with special needs. For example, adults

may scold an autistic child for playing too rowdily as they hold the belief that he is choosing

to misbehave. Parents who have children with special needs will also be giving talks during

the roadshow. They will share about their experience raising a special needs child and the

discrimination they and their child have faced. Thus, parents who do not have special needs

children will be better informed about how their comments and bias impact both the child

with special needs and their families. The roadshow will sell various items, for example,

pencil cases and purses, which have been designed by the children at Rainbow Centre. By

selling such items, parents attending the event would be able to see that special needs

children are much more than their condition and can add value to society. The secondary
motive behind selling these items is for Rainbow Centre to gather money to sustain their day-

to-day operations. Special needs teenagers who have gone through mainstream education will

assist in ushering the roadshow visitors. This gives parents the opportunity for one-to-one

interactions with people who have special needs and gain insights on the struggles faced by

special needs children who enter mainstream education. It is hoped that by hearing such

testimonials, parents attending the roadshow will be able have more empathy towards

children with special needs, especially those who may be studying alongside their own

children.

The third suggestion is to have Rainbow Centres across Singapore host open houses

for parents and their children. The open houses will provide a safe environment for parents

and children to meet children with special needs. Parents can bring their children to the

Rainbow Centre open houses where they will learn to understand their peers who have

special needs through play. Moreover, there will always be a Rainbow Centre staff

supervising the children at all times, hence allowing safe interactions between the children

without special needs and the children with special needs. Parents will also be able to have a

hands-on approach when learning about special needs children. The staff at the Rainbow

Centres will give parents a chance to bake with special needs children. Hence, parents will be

given the opportunity to interact with special needs children wile under supervision. This can

lead to parents having a better understanding of them. Parents will also have the opportunity

to speak to staff who work at the Rainbow Centre. Hence, staff will be able to debunk myths

or assumptions parents may have about children who have special needs such as the common

misconception that children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are simply

undisciplined. This allows them to obtain information about special needs children from

reliable sources. Finally, parents and their children can sit through a performance put up by
the Rainbow Centre children at the end of the open house. The performance will allow

parents and children a way to see past the children’s disabilities. Placing the performance at

the end of the open house gives the parents and children a reason to stay and explore the

premises while interacting with those who frequent it.

Proposal

The best solution to educate parents is through the roadshow. This is because it is the

most practical option without cutting back on effectiveness. As the roadshows will be placed

at shopping centres and community centres which are areas which have high foot traffic,

Hence, they can reach out to the most number of parents. The roadshows will also have

statements given by experts in the field. Hence, parents have a higher likelihood of listening

to what they have to say. Moreover, by enabling parents to interact with special needs

teenagers who have gone through mainstream education as well as parents who have children

with special needs, they will form a longer lasting impression.

The advertisements are an ineffective strategy as even if the offline advertisements

were to be put up at train stations and bus stops near primary schools, parents would be

unlikely to notice them as they would be preoccupied with travelling to and from work. It

may also take a while for them to process the true meaning of the offline advertisement as it

is not explicitly stated. Moreover, the target audience do not live online like majority of

teenagers nowadays hence the video may not be seen by as many people as anticipated as it is

not share as frequently online. According to the 2015 General Household Survey, as cited in

the Straits Times, 54% of married couples are dual income. As both parents are working, they

may not have the time or energy to watch the entire video which defeats the video’s purpose

(Hussain).
 The open house is also an ineffective strategy as it will be much harder to convince

parents to put aside time to come down to Rainbow Centres with their child. Moreover, due

to the already-existing stigma, parents may not be as open-minded during the open house.

Parents will also be very reluctant to let their children play with special needs children. Only

50% of adults are already comfortable with their child simply sitting next to a child with

special needs in school (Tai). There is also the potential danger for an untrained adult to help

a class of special needs children bake even under supervision as the children will not be used

to the adult’s presence and thus may not respond well.

 Works cited

“Community.” Rainbow Centre, 2018, https://www.rainbowcentre.org.sg/community/.

Accessed on 9 January 2019.

“Distribution of Facebook Users Worldwide as of October 2018, by Age and Gender.”

Statista, Statista, 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/376128/facebook-global-

user-age-distribution/. Accessed 9 January 2019.

Hussain, Zakir. “Getting More to be Dual-Income Couples.” The Straits Times, Singapore

Press Holdings, 19 March 2016, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/getting-

more-to-be-dual-income-couples. Accessed 9 January 2019.

Lim, Jia Qi. “Rising Number of Students with Special Needs in Mainstream Schools.”

Channel News Asia, Mediacorp, 11 August 2016,

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/rising-number-of-students-with-

special-needs-in-mainstream-schoo-7841156. Accessed on 9 January 2019.

Marino, Jason. “Tamara, Disney Like Animation Short.” HouseBoat Films, YouTube, 9

February 2014,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4frsp-

rR6c&list=PLAJFhAOG3SCd4XvNshmIvesc7i1sHIr55. Accessed 9 January 2019.

Ng, Jing Yng. “One in Three Special-Needs Children Faces Insensitive Treatment: Survey.”

TODAY, Mediacorp, 4 July 2016,

 https://www.todayonline.com/singapore-attitudes-others-discourage-special-needs-

children-from-spending-time-public. Accessed 9 January 2019.

Rainbow Centre. “Gift to Help Students with Disabilities at Rainbow Centre.” GIVE.asia,

Givola, https://give.asia/campaign/rainbowcentre. Accessed on 9 January 2019.

Shrier, Carrie. “Young Children Learn by Copying You!” Michigan State University,

Michigan State University Extension, 27 June 2014,

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/young_children_learn_by_copying_you. Accessed 9

January 2019.

Tai, Janice. “Singaporeans ‘Don’t Walk the Talk’ on Special Needs Kids.” The Straits Times,

Singapore Press Holdings, 31 May 2016,

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sporeans-dont-walk-the-talk-on-special-

needs-kids. Accessed on 9 January 2019.

Tan, Theresa. “The Hard – and Heart – Part of Inclusiveness for the Disabled.” The Straits

Times, Singapore Press Holdings, 9 June 2016,

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/the-hard-and-heart-part-of-inclusivenes-for-

the-disabled. Accessed on 9 January 2019.

“Therapy and Outreach Services.” Rainbow Centre, 2018,

https://www.rainbowcentre.org.sg/therapy-and-outreach-services/. Accessed on 9

January 2019.