Results and Effectiveness

The success of the campaign is best measured by the reactions of those who contemplated suicide and sought counselling. After face-to-face sessions, many were humbled and inspired by their disabled counsellors’ courage to live on. In just one month, our unique counselling service has helped over a hundred people find their way and will to live. But nothing beats having the visually impaired being seen in a completely different light.

Creative Execution

We trained 12 visually impaired members of SAVH to become counsellors and set up a phone and home counselling service to the general public – which is oblivious to the fact that they were being counselled by someone with a devastating disability.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) was facing two interlinked problems: (1) The public subtly discriminates against the visually impaired as they are perceived to be incapable of integrating with the society. (2) Conversely, the visually impaired generally feel a lack of self-confidence to be useful members of the society. These perceptions cannot be further from the truth. Our insight is blindingly simple: if one cannot see, he hears much better – and that makes him a better listener than those who can see. For the visually impaired, this idea turned their handicap into an asset.