THE Trouble
A mischaracterization of illness is a part of the issue. There’s a tendency to correlate disability with obvious signs of physical damage, overlooking the difficulties faced by those with visible disabilities.
A common member will likely offer assistance to someone who is in a wheelchair, without a limb, or with a light cane. Persons with visible disabilities, however, may encounter the same routine difficulties, but without the recognition of others.
Visible disabilities include severe pain disorders, mental dysfunction or psychological illnesses that effect on a woman’s well-being in ways that require cautious, individualised accommodation.
Singapore’s laws have begun to address the needs of this group, but more work is needed.
The LTA’s Helping Hand Scheme, which was launched in 2019, now includes bracelets that people with visible disabilities can use on public transportation to letting people know they need the chair. However, commuters may not always be as flexible as one might expect, when CNA writer Grace Yeoh discovered when she tested it in 2023 and was standing.
How we approach those who have disability is a major obstacle to participation.
Arthur Frank, in his 1995 publication The Crippled Storyteller, writes about the various tales of disease. He describes what is known as” the restitution narrative,” which in many ways reflects how disability is perceived today.
In this narrative, illness ( or disability ) is seen as something to treat and overcome, which does n’t reflect the reality for many living with visible or hidden disabilities. This confluence of illness and disease may cause people in the community to feel sorry. But sympathy is far from encouraging. In reality, pity may be paralysing.  ,
Think of the MRT riders admiring CNA’s Ms. Yeoh. They may include understood that the lanyard indicated a hidden illness and may have felt sympathy for her state. However, compassion cannot be used to influence activity. They did n’t know what response would be appropriate.
This is not unexpected. As publisher Susan Sontag describes in her guide, Regarding the Pain of People, kindness and compassion are fragile feelings, and if they are not translated into actions, they wither into apathy. It’s simple to do nothing when we are n’t sure how to deal with other people’s suffering.
Permit us return now to the Games. One notable instance is when world accepts those who, despite their impairments, have vowed to overcome the odds and accomplish something amazing.
But these we also need to be cautious.
There is a chance that when we oversaturate attention on those who have overcome their disabilities in some remarkable way, the tacit message being transmitted is that someone with disabilities should strive to perform the same tasks and accomplish the same goals as someone with disabilities.
When their lives do n’t coincide with socially accepted success criteria, this makes people with invisible disability extra visible.