As part of The Enabling Masterplan 2030, Singapore aims to have 40 per cent of working persons with disabilities (PWDs) employed by 2030. Are the current measures in place sufficient to encourage the employment of PWDs? How big is the problem of ableism at the workplace in Singapore? What more must be done to ensure workplaces are inclusive for PWDs?

On the third episode of the third season, which is in conjunction with IPS’ annual flagship conference, Singapore Perspectives 2023, host and Associate Director at the Institute of Policy Studies Liang Kaixin chats with Cassandra Chiu, a vision impaired counsellor and advocate for PWDs, as well as Justin Lee, Senior Research Fellow at IPS, about the state of disability inclusion in Singapore and what can be done to ensure that PWDs are meaningfully employed and engaged at the workplace.

Find out more about ableism at work:

• The Straits Times (17 August 2022): Singapore aims to have 40% of working-age persons with disabilities employed by 2030
• The Straits Times (25 August 2022): People with disabilities bring new perspectives, strengths to workplace, say forum panellists
• Today (26 August 2022): Strides made towards an inclusive S'pore but more can be done, say disabled community and experts

About our guests:

Cassandra Chiu

Psychotherapist and Coach

Director at The Safe Harbour Counselling Centre

Cassandra Chiu is a Director at The Safe Harbour Counselling Centre and is also a Consultant for Equal Opportunity and Corporate Disability Policies. She is vision impaired.

Ms Chiu is also a lecturer in the post-graduate program under Executive Counselling and Training Academy Pte Ltd. She teaches modules on counselling the disabled, where she imparts knowledge to understand issues that disabled clients face and how to work with them.

An active advocate and speaker for PWDs, Ms Chiu has written on the issue for local publication Today. She has also been featured on CNA938 and Must Share News.

She received her Masters in Professional Counselling from Swinburne University of Technology in 2011.

Justin Lee

Senior Research Fellow at IPS

Justin Lee is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. He is interested in issues related to disability, community development and social services. He has created a wiki platform that allows mass participation in the mapping of social needs (socialcollab.sg) and co-founded a skilled volunteer matching platform (serve.sg). He is Chairman of ArtsWok Collaborative, and also serves on the Board of Trampolene and the Research Committee of Singapore Children’s Society. He has a PhD in Sociology from UCLA.

On Diversity is a podcast inspired by the Institute of Policy Studies Managing Diversities research programme. In each episode, we chat with guests to explore what diversity means to them, the changes they are making, and the changes they hope to see in an increasingly fragmented society.

More from On Diversity

• Season 3 Episode 2: Ageism at Work with Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC), and Associate Professor Helen Ko of the Master & PhD in Gerontology Programmes at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).
• Season 3 Episode 1: Sexism at Work, with Corinna Lim, Executive Director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) and Simran Toor, Chief Executive Officer at SG Her Empowerment Limited (SHE) 
• Season 2 Episode 9: Youth Mental Health, with Dr Jacqueline Tilley, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the National Institute of Education (NIE) and Asher Low, Founder of Limitless
• Season 2 Episode 8: What Makes Us Singaporean, with Matthew Matthews, Principal Research Fellow of IPS and Head of IPS Social Lab, and Oon Shu An, Singaporean actress and host
• Season 2 Episode 7: Homelessness, with Harry Tan, IPS Research Fellow, and June Chua, Co-founder of T Project
• Season 2 Episode 6: The Young vs The Old, with Kanwaljit Soin, Orthopaedic and Hand Surgeon, and Teo Kay Key, IPS Research Fellow
• Season 2 Episode 5: The New Civil Society, with Carol Soon, IPS Senior Research Fellow and Head of Society and Culture, and Woo Qiyun, Environmentalist and creator of The Weird and Wild
• Season 2 Episode 4: Diversity in Elite Schools, with Gillian Koh, IPS Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, and Paul Jerusalem, master’s student at NUS
• Season 2 Episode 3: The Plight of Buskers, with Yeo Ying Hao, Co-chairman of Buskers Assocation, and Louis Ng, Nee Soon GRC MP