SINGAPORE — Sight is often relied on for the truth, captured in the saying, “seeing is believing”. However, many people who are unable to portray or verbalise their disabilities often resort to silence even when help is needed.
Invisible disabilities, as the name suggests, are not immediately recognisable. Milieu Insight sought to find out how much people in Singapore know about them and tested their knowledge about this topic. Surveying N=1000 Singaporeans and residents in March 2022, some of the gaps that need to be addressed for a more empathetic and gracious society were uncovered.
Lack of understanding about what disabilities are
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines disability as resulting from “the interaction between individuals with a health condition… with personal and environmental factors including negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social support.”
People with disabilities are often misunderstood as only those who need assistive devices such as wheelchairs, but this is not true at all. In America, 74% of those with severe disabilities actually do not use such devices.
As WHO defines, “[a] person’s environment has a huge effect on the experience and extent of disability”. All in all, factors that would make someone be considered a person with a disability would include having a health condition (physical or mental), and lack of access to resources and social support.
Milieu Insight’s survey found that the majority of respondents regard a person with disability as having a health condition (80%), while only 47% and 35% chose lack of access to resources and social support respectively as factors making one considered to be so.
Invisible disabilities are even more obscured
Based on the survey, only 37% in Singapore know at least a few things about invisible disabilities, and 49% claiming that it is their first time encountering this term.
According to the Invisible Disabilities Association, an invisible disability is “a physical, mental or neurological condition that is not visible from the outside, yet can limit or challenge a person’s movements, senses, or activities.”
Based on official statistics by the Ministry of Social and Family Development, sensory (blindness and deafness) and physical disabilities make up half of the disability group, while the other half comprises those with Intellectual Disabilities, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and other types of disabilities.
At present, there is no official list of invisible disabilities, but some common examples include:
● Mental health disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety)
● Chronic pain or symptoms (e.g., backache, headache, fatigue)
● Chronic illnesses (e.g., diabetes, cancer, heart disease)
● Developmental disorders (e.g., dyslexia, ADHD, learning disabilities)
Public understanding of disabilities still largely surrounds physical conditions that can be observed. We listed a few medical conditions where respondents are asked about which they would consider a disability, and found that while 82% considered paralysis a disability, only 20% thought the same about depression.
More needs to be done to raise awareness, provide support
69% of respondents surveyed think that there is not enough support given to people with disabilities, including those with invisible disabilities.
While Singapore has made significant progress in improving accessibility for people with disabilities in public spaces, more needs to be done to promote inclusivity in the community.
Methodology
Based on a Milieu Insight survey with N=1000 respondents in Singapore, conducted in March – April 2022.
