Speech by President Halimah Yacob at the i'mable Gift Market

Distinguished Guests, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Good morning. I am pleased to join you today at the inaugural i’mable Gift Market, which showcases the abilities of persons with disabilities through products and artworks created by them. I am glad that many social service agencies (SSAs) and social enterprises have collaborated with our talented artists and artisans to create these items such as lifestyle products, fashion accessories, artworks, and baked goods.  

The i’mable Gift Market is a platform for persons with disabilities to showcase their creative potentials through original works and artisanal items. This is important as one common feedback I heard during my visits to the disability sector is that we need more opportunities for beneficiaries and clients with disabilities to showcase their work. SG Enable’s board members, Jean and Yao Quan, are leading a Workgroup to bring partners from the people, private and public sectors together to create an ecosystem for products made by persons with disabilities. I am glad that the Workgroup has made some progress on this front, and will be introducing their new initiative in the briefing later.  

I hope that this initiative will not only raise awareness of the sector, but also change public perceptions of persons with disabilities. We need to change this mindset that persons with disabilities are limited in their abilities to be productive or to contribute. Persons with disabilities are just differently abled. 

The SSAs, social enterprises, and disability support organisations all play an important role in empowering persons with disabilities. They are all doing their best, and we appreciate the good work they have done so far. However, we know that they cannot carry out their work alone, and they need the support of the wider community to help them in their mission.  

Earlier this year, I have announced that the focus for President’s Challenge (PC) 2020 will be on empowering persons with disabilities. More can be done to provide persons with disabilities with greater access to opportunities. With the right kind of support, persons with disabilities can also contribute to our community, including businesses. I hope various stakeholders can come together to support persons with disabilities, particularly in their employment journey and integration into the wider community. PC 2020, and particularly the Empowering for Life Fund 2020, will provide more support to such meaningful programmes next year. Yesterday I was at the Singapore Business Federation Conference on Sustainable Employment. It is my hope to be able to meet and convince more employers to hire persons with disabilities. If a certain percentage of the thousands of employers in Singapore offer employment opportunities to persons with disabilities, I am sure that we will be able to move the needle. 

By working together as one community, I am confident that it can help us achieve much more than in supporting persons with disabilities in their journey of integration. Such collective effort will enable us to shape a broader culture of inclusivity, and build a more caring Singapore that embraces different abilities.  

Let me conclude by wishing the partners from various sectors every success in the i’mable collaboration. I hope that more partners can join this initiative, so that it becomes a movement where every individual is valued for who they are and supported to achieve their fullest potential. Thank you.