The Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) is a social service agency serving Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and their families across life stages. MINDS advocates for beneficiaries’ interests and causes, preparing for their participation and integration into society. There are many volunteering opportunities available, for individuals, schools and organisations. Anyone is welcome to join the movement and be a friend of the special needs community through volunteering!
At MINDS, we hosted two main categories of activities: art and craft, and physical activities.
In the first segment, we created Chinese New Year decorations, beaded and shrink plastic keychains. In the second segment, we facilitated a telematch, consisting of a series of modified physical activities. Finally, we organised a karaoke session.
What I Learnt
I observed that many of the clients face difficulty processing sounds and verbal instructions and are better at picking up visual cues. Most also have difficulty speaking, or speak in a manner that is difficult to understand immediately. They also have difficulty processing a lot of complicated information. They are sensitive to touch and tend to respond to touch more quickly than to other sensory information. I felt confused at first and did not know how to interact with them since my interactions with people are usually verbal through conversations.
However, over the days we visited MINDS, I learnt to interact with them better and became more comfortable and confident when guiding them in our lessons and interacting with them. The boost in confidence was mainly attributed to learning to interact with them with more visual and tactile cues. For example, when I meet someone new, instead of just saying “hi”, I would also wave and shake their hand. I was also more aware of my body language and made an effort to maintain eye contact. Additionally, I learnt to slow down and listen attentively to them, waiting for them to finish speaking and clarifying what they have said if needed. I also learnt to ask short questions that can be answered with a short response or a “yes” or “no”.
I was also very impressed, observing what they were able to do and how they interacted with each other. As they warmed up to me, some proved themselves to be very capable. They could do basic addition and subtraction and spell simple words. They were also able to recognise patterns and imitate them. For example, when we started stringing the lanterns up, I passed my buddy lanterns, alternating between the circular and spiral lanterns. When I turned my attention to another client, my buddy continued stringing the lanterns in the same pattern! He also showed off how he could do single digit addition and subtraction as well as spelling. We even played tic-tac-toe!
I was also impressed by how much they care for each other and for us. During the craft sessions, whenever something fell off the table, they tried to pick it up before we did and put it back onto the table. When my buddy saw that another person was having trouble stapling the ang paos, he helped him position the stapler. One of the girls in my class also made keychains for her friend. During the telematch, they also took turns and whenever there were others queueing, they would give up their place at the station to let others play.
TLDR
Just because they interact in a manner different from we do, doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of care and sensitivity — they just express it differently. I hope to see them being treated with courtesy in Singapore; we should never patronise, condescend or threaten. I found volunteering extremely meaningful and insightful, as I can apply what I have learnt about interacting with people with special needs to encounters with them in social settings and try to understand how they see the world.