Sport for all: Physical activity can help people with disabilities live fulfilling lives

Report from Straits Times article on 22nd Feb 2023

SINGAPORE – For persons with disabilities, sport and physical activities can boost confidence and offer a safe space. Ms Florence Hui, 23, recalls being bullied in secondary school. “I would run to the toilet and cry,” says Ms Hui, who has a mild intellectual disability and attended a government-funded special education school. Even though her parents and two older sisters were supportive, she felt unable to express her woes and contemplated self-harm at one point. Taking up bowling in school helped her regain her smile and confidence. “When I get a strike, I will do my happy dance,” says Ms Hui, who works in retail at Uniqlo clothing chain. She attends weekly bowling training organised by Special Olympics Singapore (SOSG), the local arm of an international organisation that facilitates sporting activities for persons with intellectual disabilities. Ms Hui is an athlete leader with the organisation and has also confidently emceed SOSG events. Her mother Karen Kwa, 58, has seen her change through participating in sport and sport-related social activities. “She opened up. She’s able to speak out more for herself,” says Madam Kwa, who works in special education. Sport and other physical activities have numerous benefits for participants, including increased physical strength, lower risk of lifestyle diseases and better sleep. For persons with disabilities, physical or intellectual, sporting activities also offer a chance to socialise and express themselves, as well as to learn and to lead. Mr Dipak Natali, regional president and managing director, AsiaPacific region, of Special Olympics International, says people with intellectual disabilities are often excluded from mainstream society and perhaps interact only with their immediate family members. “For anybody, sport is an incredibly beneficial physical activity,” he says. “Beyond that, you get a chance to engage in teamwork, which means communication, interpersonal skills and understanding other people.” The revised Singapore Physical Activity Guidelines released in 2022 recommend that persons with disabilities aim to hit 150 to 300 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, similar to the recommended amount for adults aged 18 to 65. In Singapore, one in two persons with disabilities participates in sport as of 2022, compared with one in three in 2016, according to the Committee of Supply debates in 2022.

From 2016, SportCares, the philanthropic arm of national agency Sport Singapore, has served persons with disabilities and special needs, following recommendations from the Disability Sports Master Plan under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. SportCares organises inclusive sports festivals where persons with disabilities can try out para-sport and adaptive sport. Under another programme, persons with intellectual disabilities team up with students from mainstream schools to compete in unified teams. ActiveSG gyms under Sport Singapore are also being progressively retrofitted with pneumatic resistance exercise equipment, which can be used by people of all abilities and ages, according to a media statement from Sport Singapore. Barriers to entry Infrastructural woes persist, however. Competition for sporting venues is so fierce that sometimes SOSG cannot book a venue a year in advance, says its president Teo-Koh Sock Miang. SOSG supports weekly trainings for nine Olympic-type sport year-round, as well as programmes for young athletes and a leadership programme. Beneficiaries pay a token sum at most, or often nothing at all, even when sent overseas to participate in international competitions or for training. Volunteers, including coaches, are needed to run the programmes. Finding and retaining such volunteers are challenging, says Dr TeoKoh, who has a doctorate in human performance and disability sport. “The high costs of hiring paid coaches or instructors for all our programmes would make our programme unsustainable,” she adds.

Teaching change Mr Hay Qing Hui, who has a mild intellectual disability, is an assistant volunteer coach for DanceSport with Special Olympics Singapore. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO More awareness that people with disabilities can play and benefit from sport can lead to greater support for them to have an active lifestyle. Mr Andy Ang, 52, has been a volunteer coach with SOSG for the past two years, teaching DanceSport. This is an Olympic-recognised sport including different dance styles. Mr Ang’s interest was piqued after he volunteered as a wheelchair ballroom dance partner in 2004. He now coaches weekly, with the help of former student Hay Qing Hui, who has been with SOSG for more than 15 years. Mr Hay, 30, has a mild intellectual disability. “I have a hard time understanding people,” he says. “At school, it was hard to make friends and ask them out. I didn’t really talk. I just listened.” Dance gave him a way to express himself, and he represented Singapore in two World Summer Games under the Special Olympics, competing in athletics in Shanghai in 2007, and basketball in Athens in 2011. As an assistant volunteer coach, he wants to give other people a chance to find the same freedom and opportunity on the dance floor. “I want to inspire my juniors to pursue what they want.” Among the students in the class is Mr Salihin Nawi, 25, who also plays bocce, a ball sport designed for persons with disabilities, and floorball. He makes time for weekly sports training while working part-time at a fast-food chain. He also volunteers with grassroots organisations. “I want to move more when I’m younger, otherwise I will have problems when I’m older,” says the avid cyclist, who has a mild intellectual disability. His dream is to introduce bocce to more people as it is a sport that can be played by people of all ages and abilities.

To find out more about Special Olympics Singapore, you can visit their website at https://www.specialolympics.org.sg/ or make a donation via https://www.giving.sg/manage-campaigns?orgId=3107080