SINGAPORE: Positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Singapore’s workforce saw a decline last year compared to 2019, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said in a report released on Monday (Dec 2).
Only 50.6 per cent of those surveyed had positive attitudes towards PWDs in the workplace in 2023, a drop from 59.6 per cent in 2019. Simultaneously, those who felt negatively about PWDs in the workplace rose from 9 per cent to almost 14 per cent.
These findings were released in the National Council of Social Services’ (NCSS) Public Attitudes Toward Persons with Disabilities Study (PAS).
The same trend can be seen in educational institutions and community shared spaces where there was a dip in positive impressions towards PWDs.
Positive attitudes towards PWDs in schools and other learning spaces fell from 83.2 per cent in 2019 to 81.1 per cent in 2023, while good sentiments towards those in community and shared spaces dipped from 81 per cent to 78.2 per cent during the same period, data from the study showed.
As a whole, positive attitudes from the public towards PWDs fell in 2023 compared to 2019.
The report showed that members of the public who felt negatively towards PWDs rose from 1.8 per cent to 2.5 per cent, while those who felt either “extremely positive” or “moderately positive” towards PWDs dropped from 76.8 per cent to 68.9 per cent.
Although the study did not identify specific reasons, it found that public attitudes were associated with frequency of contact with PwDs.
Respondents who had contact with PwDs at least twice in the past year reported more positive attitudes compared to those did not, MSF said.
There was a 7.1 per cent climb in those who felt “neutral” during the same period.
However, PWDs who felt included and not discriminated against by those around them inched up from 51.7 per cent in 2015, to 53.5 per cent in 2023.
FALL IN POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE WITH AUTISM
The study also looked at overall public attitudes towards PWDs according to the disability type – physical, intellectual, sensory and autism.
People with autism saw the largest decrease in positive perception towards them, from 69.9 per cent in 2019 to 56.2 per cent in 2023.
Positive sentiments towards people with intellectual and sensory disabilities also declined by 11.1 per cent and 8.9 per cent respectively.
People who felt negatively about those with autism shot up to 9 per cent last year from 3.8 per cent. Negative sentiments towards those with intellectual and sensory disabilities also rose 2.4 per cent and 1.4 per cent.
Positive perceptions towards those with physical disabilities saw a marginal fall of less than 1 per cent.
“Singapore has made progress over the years to become more disability inclusive. We hope for more persons with disabilities to experience better quality of life and greater opportunities to participate meaningfully in society,” Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Social and Family Development, Eric Chua said.
“However, we must continue to raise public awareness, especially less visible disabilities, such as intellectual disability and autism, and foster inclusive workplaces”, Mr Chua added.