As part of a series to highlight youth activism, TODAY speaks to young people in Singapore who are not only passionate and vocal about social issues, but are driving positive change through their actions. In this instalment, the founders behind Movement of Inclusivity talk about the importance of ensuring that people with special needs feel truly a part of society.

• The group of four co-founders started Movement of Inclusivity as they saw a gap in the special needs space
• They wanted to help mainstream members of society learn how to better adapt to the needs of this community
• Their programmes include cinema screenings that are more welcoming to those with special needs and facilitated conversations about inclusivity

SINGAPORE — When she was a student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Charmaine Foo encountered a fellow student in her co-curricular activity committee who was often disruptive. 

"We were always thinking about how we could control her and stop her from disrupting the sessions," Ms Foo said. 

It was only later that she learnt that this fellow student was autistic, and Ms Foo, now 23, began making a concerted effort to learn how to better interact with her. 

She and three other students, Khwong Zhi Ying, 22, Chloe Ng, 23, and Ernest Wong, 22, began sharing their experiences and thoughts about inclusivity, and they realised that there was a gap in the special needs space. 

While there are various organisations that cater to those with special needs, most of them do not involve the mainstream public in their activities. 

And so they began Movement of Inclusivity (MOI) Singapore in 2018 with the aim of encouraging mainstream members of society to interact with people with special needs, so that they can better understand such individuals. 

The first project MOI conducted was a cinema outing for children with special needs. But instead of simply taking a group of such children to a movie screening, the group went a step further to think about how to make the experience more suitable and comfortable for the kids.

"We realised that organising one movie outing would not make a big impact, so we decided to change the cinema landscape instead and make it more inclusive for those with special needs." 

That led to Inclunema, which saw them working with cinema operators to provide sensory-friendly movie screenings for those with special needs. 

During Inclunema screenings, theatre lights are left on, movie sounds are lowered and movie-goers are free to move around. 

To date, MOI has partnered with EagleWings Cinematics to host seven Inclunema sessions for around 15 to 30 families in each screening. Regular members of the public are also welcome to buy tickets for these screenings.

Then came Inclubuds, a programme that started off by providing free academic enrichment classes for children with special needs, but has since expanded to include teaching soft skills as well. 

"More than academic needs, what (parents) need is for the child to have a play buddy, to have an outlet where they explore specific interests or needs they have, like learning how to exchange eye contact," Ms Khwong explained. 

Inclubuds sessions are run for 10 weeks at a time and rely on a team of volunteers who are partnered with a child each. Over the past three cycles, the founders have taken in a total of 38 children, each paired with one volunteer buddy.

After speaking to parents about the needs of each child, volunteers are asked to plan specific activities for the child they are paired with, which will then be carried out during the second half of each Inclubuds session, after the academic portion of the session.

The founders added that they conduct debriefs with the volunteers after each session during which they encourage the volunteers to link their experiences in Inclubuds to their everyday lives. 

"Inclubuds became a platform to spark these kinds of conversations, which we brought into iConversations as well — the idea of how to go about making that change in their own lives," Ms Khwong shared.

iConversations, MOI’s third programme, began as MOI wanted to encourage facilitated conversations about inclusion in Singapore through hands-on games. 

So far, MOI has conducted such sessions with students from their own polytechnic but they are open to conducting them for other schools and workplaces looking to explore the topic of inclusivity and discrimination. 

In addition to their existing programmes, the team is also working on a new initiative to make public transport more inclusive for the special needs community.

"We hope that people with special needs will be able to receive support from frontline staff on public transport and we also hope that the staff understand that people with special needs may need extra help," Ms Khwong said. 

Some changes the group hopes to roll out on public transport include priority queues for those with special needs and training staff to help them, should they need it. 

As the group seeks to expand its programmes and make Singapore an inclusive place, it encourages other youths to volunteer their time and skills with MOI.

“Businesses and organisations who are open to turning their space into one that is inclusive can also work with us to explore how we can cater to the community,” said Ms Khwong.

She added that as Singapore pushes forward in its quest to be a diverse metropolis, it has to be inclusive to all members in society, including the special needs community.

“The rights and needs of all members of society should be secured, aligning with Singapore's goal to building a fair society based on the value of equality,” she said.

“And ultimately an inclusive society will bring about more sustainable peace and progress in Singapore, where all members of society can participate actively.”