Data on Persons with Disabilities and/or Special Needs in Singapore
Ministry of Social and Family DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong’s inquiry regarding the total number, types, and functioning levels of persons with disabilities in Singapore. Minister Tan Chuan-Jin stated that sensory and physical disabilities constitute half of the disability group, while the remainder comprises those with intellectual disabilities and autism. He highlighted the 2016 introduction of a standardized in-take assessment to evaluate functioning levels for those receiving funded services to ensure appropriate support. Minister Tan Chuan-Jin also explained that the Ministry is leveraging the Social Service Net national IT system to collect more comprehensive data across the sector. He added that inter-agency collaboration will help consolidate a complete disability dataset to guide more targeted policy and program development.
Transcript
32 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many persons with disabilities and/or special needs are there in Singapore; (b) what is the breakdown of this number based on the type of disability and/or special needs; (c) within these categories, what is the further breakdown based on functioning levels; and (d) if any of such data is not available, whether the Ministry will carry out a study for the purposes of more targeted policymaking.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: The prevalence rate of persons with disabilities in Singapore is as follows:
Persons with sensory (blind and deaf) and physical disabilities would constitute half of the disability group. The remainder comprises those with intellectual disabilities and Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
An enhanced standardised in-take assessment was introduced in 2016 to enable professional staff to assess the level of functioning of persons with disability in our funded services. This enables staff to provide appropriate levels of intervention and support as required.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development refines its system of data collection regularly. The Ministry has started on a project to leverage on the Social Service Net, a national IT system for the social service sector, to collect more comprehensive data across our disability services. We will also work with partner Government agencies to put together a more complete disability dataset to better guide disability policy and programme development.