Minds Craft

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MINDS’ Vision To be a world-class voluntary welfare organisation that advances the development, well-being and aspirations of persons with intellectual disability and their integration into society MINDS Headquarters 800 Margaret Drive Singapore 149310 Tel: 6479 5655 Fax: 6479 0706 Website: www.minds.org.sg MINDS Centres Idea Employment Development Centre 29 Rosyth Road, Singapore 546190 Tel: 6282 4852 Fax: 6280 5078 SIA-MINDS Employment Development Centre 800 Margaret Drive, Singapore 149310 Tel: 6473 1148 Fax: 6473 3885 Woodlands Employment Development Centre 30 Woodlands Ring Road, #01-02 Singapore 737883 Tel: 6366 3966 Fax: 6366 7422 Ang Mo Kio Training & Development Centre Blk 134 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, #01-1677 Singapore 560134 Tel: 6456 4174 Fax: 6456 0570 Clementi Training & Development Centre Blk 304 Clementi Ave 4, #01-487 Singapore 120304 Tel: 6776 8743 Fax: 6776 8741 Napiri Training & Development Centre 7 Lorong Napiri, Singapore 547533 Tel: 6387 7662 Fax: 6387 3357 MINDS Special Education Schools Fernvale Gardens School 7 Fernvale Road, Singapore 797635 Tel: 6481 6697 Fax: 6483 2631 Lee Kong Chian Gardens School 802 Margaret Drive, Singapore 149311 Tel: 6473 8332 Fax: 6473 4776 Towner Gardens School 1B Lengkong Lima, Singapore 417557 Tel: 6446 2612 Fax: 6243 7498 Woodlands Gardens School 30 Woodlands Ring Road, #01-01 Singapore 737883 Tel: 6468 0566 Fax: 6468 2142 MINDS Home & Hostel / Group Home MINDSville@Napiri 7 Lorong Napiri Singapore 547533 Tel: 6387 7662 Fax: 6387 3357 MINDS Social Enterprise 800 Margaret Drive Singapore 149310 Tel: 6473 7512 (ext.244) Fax: 6473 0831 CONTENTS 1. Message from the CEO 2. Rhapsody of Joy 3. Majulah Singapura! 4. Regardless of Race, We are Singapore 4. NUS EVC (Eusoff Hall Voluntary Corp) Day Camp 5. Let’s meet at Fernvale 6. Siblings Camp - Teen Building 2011 7. A beautiful day-out at Chinese Garden 8. Entering the world of Open Employment The personal journey of Akari Inoue 9. Supporting a MINDS Client On-The-Job Guiding Akari 10. One Proud Moment 11. Spiderman Arrives at MINDS Schools! 12. A look into Community Group Home 13. Healthy Lifestyle @ SMEDC 14. WEDC MINDS Food awarded Food Tuckshop License 15. Special Olympics 2011 15. TGS Overseas Learning Journey To Malaysia 16. Glitz and Glamour with the Miss World Contestants 16. Goal! ~ Soccer clinic organised by YMCA at ITE College West 17. iReflect - A Special friend indeed A glimpse into the social lives of Persons with intellectual disability 17. On our Coverpage and Rear page Advisory Committee The Public Relations, Education & Communications Committee Chairman: Boo Chong Han Members: Doreen Yap | Daniel Tan | Lee Seng Liang | Keh Eng Song | Brenda Lee Editorial Committee Advisors: Keh Eng Song / Jeannie Ho Editor: Brenda Lee Members: Anthony Tan / Sharon Ng / Josephine Ong / Suzana Soo / Chao Ye Peng / Prema Thevarajah / Ng Mun Wai / Inez Toh / Koh Gee May / Ling Chong Beng / Rose Kwek / Rosalyn Peng / Shafiyah Sarwan / Mike Koh / Mimi Tan / Gerald Ng MINDSpeak is published by the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). Designed and printed by adamsapple. © Copyright is held by the publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any forms or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recordings or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. All views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of publisher.
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Almost 50 years ago on 29 May 1962, the Singapore Association for Retarded Children (SARC) was registered as a society by a pioneering group of civic conscious people who wanted to do their bit for children with intellectual disability who at that time did not have any specific organization to cater to their special needs. What started out as a pilot education centre project with a single classroom for 26 children with intellectual disability has grown into an organization that today runs four special education schools, three sheltered workshops, three day activity centres and a residential facility, serving a total of 2,400 persons with intellectual disability. The Association changed its name to Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) on 11 June 1985. We will be celebrating MINDS’ 50th Anniversary with a series of events in 2012. The golden jubilee celebrations will start off with a 50th Anniversary Dinner on 25 May 2012. President Tony Tan and Mrs Tan have kindly accepted our invitation to be the Guests-of-Honour. A Commemorative Book on our 50-year journey will be launched at the Dinner. A series of exhibition and open houses will be held to create public awareness and promote social integration for persons with intellectual disability in July 2012. A 3-day exhibition will take place at Jurong Point from 27 to 29 July 2012. At the same time, there will be open houses and other activities organized by our schools and centres to reach out to the neighbourhoods. For our clients and caregivers, a Family Day will be held at the Singapore Zoo on 22 September 2012. This is to provide an opportunity for our clients and their families to come together with MINDS staff to have a day of fun and togetherness. The Zoo is a public place and well visited by locals and overseas visitors. Holding the MINDS Family Day at the Zoo will also raise public awareness of MINDS and encourage community acceptance of persons with intellectual disability. As we look forward to an exciting 2012, we also take a quick reminisce of some events in the last few months. A series of psychosocial- educational workshops was organized by Fernvale Gardens School for parents to network and share common issues facing them at different stages of their children’s life. Parents were also challenged to think of the long-term plan for their children after their graduation from the school. Some parents also shared their parenting journey. “Teen Building 2011” saw 17 special needs youths from various MINDS facilities and their teenage siblings coming together for an overnight camp. The teenage siblings had the opportunity to share their experiences with other youths facing similar challenges of having brothers or sisters with special needs. Facilitated by MINDS social workers, they engaged in reflective discussion with one another. With the Camp, we hope that the teenagers have found a platform to support each other. Read about the touching story of two very special friends at Idea EDC and their connections with each other. Our clients are often not able to communicate their feelings and emotions. We have to constantly remind ourselves that they too experience social interactivity, relationships and friendships. MINDS celebrated the talents of persons with intellectual disability on 14 and 15 October 2011 with a concert entitled “Rhapsody of Joy”. Some 195 beneficiaries from MINDS schools and centres showed their parents and caregivers what they are capable of when given the stage to express their creativity and abilities. Through the concert, we hope to enhance the students and adults’ self confidence and self esteem. 3 male and 3 female residents from our MINDS Hostel at Lorong Napiri have been living in two HDB rental units since May 2010 as part of our 3-year Community Group Home Pilot Project. These ladies and gentlemen are much happier now that they have their own “home”, exercising choices in their daily independent living and participating in community and grassroots activities. The Community Group Home serves to fill a gap for those who are capable of independent living to live within the community rather than in a home or hostel. They will remain a part of the community even if their parents are no longer with them. Parents who are interested to explore this option for their children are encouraged to get in touch with us for an exploratory discussion. Thanks to a team of very dedicated staff from the EDCs and the Job Placement/Job Support Programme, MINDS closed 2011 with successful placements of a total of 40 persons with intellectual disability in open employment under the 3-year pilot Job Placement and Job Support Programme. Although the Programme is supposed to serve all persons with intellectual disability in Singapore, we found ourselves looking for potential candidates from the three MINDS EDCs as there were only a handful of external referrals. In this issue, we share two success stories; the journey of Ms Yoko and her daughter Ms Akari from SIA- MINDS EDC, and Ms Ang Poh Hua from Woodlands EDC. We urge more parents and caregivers to encourage and support their children in taking up open employment opportunities so that they will be better integrated into the society. Happy reading! Mr Keh Eng Song Chief Executive Officer MINDS 1
Page 1: MICA (P) 036/02/2012 Issue No. 1/20
Page 5 and 6: • Text by: Mr Abdul Hafiz, Assist
Page 7 and 8: • Text & photos by: FGS • Let
Page 9 and 10: • Text by: Ms Hema D/O Thenarassu
Page 11 and 12: • Text by: Mr Jason Sim, Job Plac
Page 13 and 14: • Text & photos by: LGS • SPIDE
Page 15 and 16: • Text & photos by: Ms Cheryl Lee
Page 17 and 18: • Text & photos by: WGS • SPECI
Page 19 and 20: • Text by: Mr Selvadurai Joshua,

Minds Craft

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