A school-to-work transition programme – now open to students with mild intellectual disabilities and autism – will be extended to those with moderate intellectual and multiple disabilities. A centre will also be set up for caregivers of people with disabilities, to offer information, respite care, training and peer support. This will allow more people with disabilities to be better prepared for work, and their caregivers will have more support too.
These new initiatives together with existing schemes, will likely cause the Government to spend about $400 million per year to help people with disabilities. This is also in line with the Government’s response to recommendations made by a panel who drew up the third Enabling Masterplan, which is a road map for disability services from 2017 to 2021.
The Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) is one such organisation which has students benefited from this school-to-work scheme, and its President, Mr Victor Tay, hopes more firms will join the scheme too.
APSN runs Delta Senior School, one of five special education schools on the scheme, which was developed by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social and Family Development, and disabilities support agency SG Enable.
The school-to-work scheme will be expanded to eight schools by 2018.
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Source: The Straits Times, 21 February 2017