Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

More senior-friendly public spaces needed: focus group

SINGAPORE – Seniors at a focus group discussion yesterday (Sept 6) gave feedback on how to improve common spaces that are frequented by them.

SINGAPORE – Seniors at a focus group discussion yesterday (Sept 6) gave feedback on how to improve common spaces that are frequented by them.

The discussion is one in a series of public discussions held by the National Development Ministry, on the national action plan for successful ageing. Fifty participants including seniors and academics attended the discussion, where half of them were more than 50 years old.

Some said there should be more public toilets at parks, while another brought up the issue of the wheelchair-bound elderly having difficulty navigating the narrow aisles at hawker centres. Another point raised was for the need to have healthcare equipment rental services such as respirators for elderly in Housing and Development Board towns.

“A lot of facilities and infrastructure are not actually elderly friendly. So for the older people, they always encounter issues in terms of accessibility in terms of moving around … They need to be taken care of because of their old age,” said Mr Teoh Gin Wah, a participant of the focus group discussion.

Minister of State for National Development Mohamad Maliki Osman said that beyond improving infrastructure, the presence of civic consciousness and social responsibility in the using of shared spaces is also important.

“We create common spaces that respond to needs of the seniors, we also need to bring about a greater level of appreciation amongst the younger generation,” said Dr Maliki.

“I think we also need to look at common ownership of those spaces. How do we create a community where people begin to appreciate the spaces belong to everyone and because it belongs to everyone, everyone must appreciate each other’s needs and be sensitive to those needs.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.