The national conversation around inclusive hiring may be gathering momentum, but Michelle Lim is regrettably wise to the crippling doubt that can stymie the progress of the disabled community. At times, it’s perpetuated by the same figures they lean onto for support. She sees this unrelenting reality in dropouts from Make The Change (MTC), her social enterprise that provides marginalised communities with education and training programmes.
One particularly gnawing loss is that of a disabled cleaner who aspired to become a web designer. “Despite the training and mentorship we provided, his dad, who is a teacher, urged him to focus on his cleaning job. His rationale was that cleaners would not be made redundant by AI,” she recounts.
The 49-year-old, who runs a marketing, advertising and design academy plus creative agency, wants to dislodge such limiting beliefs by “enabling people to see their value.” Local beneficiaries as well as refugees seeking asylum in the region undertake programmes in media and digital literacy, which are funded by government grants, international charities and resources marshalled from Lim’s commercial enterprises. Subsequently, they can seek opportunities in the creative gig economy through MTC’s inclusive talent portal.
Even against a backdrop of growing interest among local firms in hiring people with disabilities — recently reported by SG Enable — Lim maintains that pervasive attitudes undermine efforts toward equal opportunity. Namely, the tendency to conflate inclusive hiring with charity. “The mindset is usually, ‘I want to hire inclusively, how can the government help me?”
Not to mention, a facile knowledge of the differently abled. “When hiring from the vulnerable community, the first question they usually ask is ‘What are their limitations?’ rather than ‘What they bring to the table? ‘How can a blind person use Microsoft Powerpoint?’ When in fact, they can use a screen reader and we are the ones limited in our understanding.”
The entrepreneur advocates for strength-based hiring, rather than grasping at top-down incentives. “It has to be a win-win situation; the talents have to bring value to the company, and you must treat them like your other employees. Just last week I removed a refugee from my pay roll because he was not performing,” she reveals. Refugees who’ve participated in their programme are billeted in Bogor, Indonesia, where the MTC team identified potential hires through their workshops.
She adds that 35 per cent of hires at the B Corp-certified (which distinguishes businesses that tick a rigorous checklist based on how they create value for stakeholders) social enterprise are from vulnerable communities.
She says that the workplace diversity has sparked heightened empathy among her staff. “Instead of being self-centred, you learn how to embrace different ways and learning processes, which brings about greater collaboration and appreciative behaviour.
As someone who’s glibly sloganised her private education business, M.A.D. School by Chatsworth Medi@rt Academy into a catalyst enabling giddy passions, Lim herself once changed career tack in the quest for personal fulfilment. Her earlier role as an investment trainee felt askew, right from the misguided start.
“I just wasn’t comfortable with that because what value are we really creating, other than wealth? Oftentimes it was created from very toxic environments whereby my peers were smoking non-stop during their breaks and looking stressed out from staring at monitors all day,” she recalls. It’s not that she eschews material trappings for an ascetic life — Lim is part of a coterie of Panerai collectors in Singapore — rather, she sought her “calling.”
The Malaysia-born later sallied into corporate consulting at an education company, where she was involved in international student recruitment.
“I was receiving kids from their parents’ hands and bringing them to Singapore to study — this kind of responsibility is huge, and I don’t see it as a transaction but rather, a mentorship.”
She was later inspired to extend that same stewardship to the marginalised, through MTC, after working on advertising campaigns with organisations including Institute of Mental Health.
On top of educating corporates on how to transform their flimsy CSR promises into measurable impact, MTC’s latest initiative is =Dreams Asia Breakthrough Prize, an inaugural competition co-organised with its eponymous charity to eradicate poverty in Singapore. Garlanded by a S$500,000 grand prize, it will present yet another opportunity to level the playing field when the winner is announced next year.
The mother of a teenaged son acknowledges that difficult conversations remain to be broached in attaining greater parity in society.
“We need more stories of people who are invisible in the media; my 17-year-old has not met handicapped people besides those selling tissues — can you imagine only having such close-minded encounters?”
“The invisible community needs to step out instead of being silenced, and we need to work closely with the agencies and social enterprises to give them a platform to share their story — empathy cannot be taught in a workshop but experienced.”
Videography: Marcus Lin
Photography: Mun Kong
Producer: Cara Yap
Styling: Chia Wei Choong
Hair: Peter Lee using Goldwell
Makeup: Keith Bryant Lee using Shiseido
