Letter from LEO CHEN IAN President, Disabled People's Association
I write regarding an incident that happened to one of our members at the Newton MRT station on Jan 14.
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Ms Rosie Wong, 59, works at the Novena area. Visually-impaired, she boards the train system she is familiar with and listens attentively to announcements of approaching stops.
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That morning, however, the announcement was quite inaudible, so she missed her stop and got off at Newton.
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Struggling to find her way so as to board the north-bound train going to Novena, she approached a few passers-by to ask for help. Sadly, she received none.
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She then called 999 and waited 10 to 15 minutes but the police did not come.
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Fortunately, the next two men she approached were kind enough to lend a hand. They guided her to the platform from which to board a Novena-bound train. She realised then that she had wandered quite a distance.
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An SMRT staffer came along. However, instead of offering his assistance, he asked her to wait for his supervisor to "check" her.
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Ms Wong had already had enough stress finding her away around the station; she certainly did not need to go through yet more stress to subject herself to being "checked". She told the supervisor she was lost and asked why she needed to be "checked" when she had done nothing wrong.
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SMRT staff finally helped her to board the next train and contacted the staff at Novena station to meet her and assist her.
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The police finally called her an hour later to find out if she was safe.
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Ms Wong commented that had the SMRT staff been vigilant enough, they would have seen her from the closed-circuit TV at the Newton control booth and could have promptly aided her.
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Working as the voice of people with disabilities in Singapore, the Disabled People's Association expresses its concern about how the situation was handled.
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As the association helps people with disabilities to live independently and to fully participate in society, we hope that society will work with us, too, in helping them.
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We encourage vigilance among SMRT staff for disabled people who might need their help in any way. As Singapore hopes to become a more gracious society, we can start by taking the time to lend a hand to people like Ms Wong.
