Alternatively, a special resource can be created for mainstream schools to raise awareness regarding assisting autistic students in the student populace. As stated earlier, due to the overwhelming neurotypical majority, not only there is little awareness by both students and teachers of how to lend a helping hand for autistic students to cope in their learning, there is much stigma against autistic students, which unfortunately fosters a borderline ableist and discriminatory environment for the autistic minority. This can sadly cause autistic students to breed negative perceptions of themselves due to internalised guilt over their identity, thus affecting their mental health. Therefore, it is also paramount for such a resource to be present, to reduce stigma against autistic individuals in the student populace and allowing autistic students to feel included and accepted. 

It is not a rare sight to see elderly in Singapore working laboriously to earn their keep. From cardboard collectors to street side food stands to beggars giving out packets of tissue paper, many seniors have a low standard of living when they should be enjoying their days of retirement. As the percentage of seniors in our population increases, I believe more focus should be put into caring for their well being. Some initiatives the government has implemented are social assistance in terms of monetary donations or helping to find suitable jobs. However, not only are some uneducated on financial literacy, the jobs that are assigned may not be stable enough to help them save up. Hence, the effectiveness of these initiatives are greatly diminished. Another example is how the non-profit organisation Happy People Helping People (HPHP) provides meal sponsorships, grocery vouchers and outings to the elderly in order to take care of their basic physical and emotional needs. I think that this is much more effective as it directly impacts the elderly and it is simple for them to understand. Therefore, I feel that it is important to raise awareness on the issue and assist such existing measures in order to improve the quality of life for the elderly.

Disturbingly, young people in distress seek out anonymous platforms because they don’t want their parents to be involved, with common reasons including  I don’t want to worry or disturb them. I don’t think they’ll understand. I’m afraid they will judge me. They’ll just think I’m lazy. I tried to talk to them, but they think there’s nothing wrong with me and that I don’t need professional help. Apart from rolling out school-based initiatives, I think it is also important to increase awareness of the role of the family in tackling mental health issues.

In today's digital age, almost every teenager has access to a smartphone and or personal computer, it is rare to find a teen who has never played a video game before. It is commonplace for teens to indulge in gaming, many of whom have developed an addiction to it. Most teens use gaming as a way to pass time or as a form of relaxation, however there is a small proportion of teens that are addicted to gaming and this is a really big problem. Gaming addiction can lead to disastrous consequences in severe situations, being the cause of many terrible situations.There are many cases where teens have committed crimes or other harmful acts all because of a video game. From harming others to harming themselves due to events that happen in a game, many do not know the line where real life starts and the digital world ends, with the line between the digital world and the real world becoming extremely blur. Gaming addiction can start of small and insignificant, children addicted to videogames often exhibit the same symptoms, such as they may play many hours per day, neglect personal hygiene, gain or lose significant weight, disrupt sleep patterns resulting in sleep deprivation, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends, or lie about how much time they spend playing video games. However these pale in comparison to more severe cases where teens have done bodily harm to themselves or orders, and in the most extreme cases, a loss of life.

Video game addiction has been classified by The WHO as an mental illness. The World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the 11th revision of its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). With its classification as a mental illness by the leading medical body of the UN, this shows that video game addiction(VGA) is an extremely serious issue in todays society, being recognised as something we need to solve.

During the covid 19 pandemic, most people in Singapore were stuck at home due to restrictions that were set up to curb the spread of the virus, thus many people, especially teens, spent most of their time at home with nothing to do, so most of them resorted to gaming to pass time or to catch up with friends, while there is nothing wrong with a leisure activity such as gaming, it has led to increased cases of VGA. This is serious as this addiction will not cure itself when the pandemic or lockdowns end as they are lasting and will play a major factor in the teens upbringing, affecting their life habits that will stay with them as they grow up.

Like any other issue, there has been measures and movements put in place by different groups such as the government

and different social groups

One such example is DigitalMindset, 

The only methods of "curing" VGA is through therapy with councillors,or early intervention, it is difficult to cure once someone is addicted for a long time as it has become a normal day to day havit for them. It takes effort and determination by both those affected and the people around them for the VGA to be cured. Measures have only been put in place by governments or social groups, but not by video game publishers, who should bear the brunt of the blame, as they are the ones who come up with strategies to get people hooked on their games, trapping the players in the virtual world, not letting them escape. With many features to keep users playing, they are the root cause of the addiction, so they should be the ones who also put forward the solutions as well.

Anti addiction features such as limited game time have been put into placed in some games, however the number of instances is extremely small and not prevalent in the most popular and most played games of today”

Use of the 3 problem-management approaches

Current Measures: MSF provide job placement and Support for persons with disabilities

Persons with disabilities can seek employment assistance from SG Enable's information and Career Centre, located within the Enabling Village. However, due to visual disability, not many of them are able to access to this information, let alone travelling to the Enabling Villiage.

Guide Dogs Singapore (GDS) believes that people with vision impairment should not be limited by their loss of sight. As a non-profit social service agency, it aims to enhance the quality of life for people with vision impairment through rehabilitation and the use of guide dogs, and help them to integrate into society. However, fees for training a guide dog can be as high as $5000, this is so that funding for such amount of money can be hard and only a few people visually impaired can benefit from it. 

Desired ourcome: promote a more visually-impaired-inclusive society by raising public awareness towards them and increasing assistance for them.

Possible methods: “dinner in the dark” experience, speeches, fund raising

The first current measure imposed to include persons with disabilities is the Purple Parade. The Purple Parade is a locally-organised event by the Central Singapore Community Development Council annually to raise awareness of those who have special needs. They aim to advocate inclusiveness by making sure that people with disabilities are on a fair playing field with others in the working world. They celebrate the talents of those with disabilities and showcase it on the day of the event. This allows the handicapped to be recognised by society and not become left out. As a result, it reminds business owners that people with disabilities should be treated the same as those who are able bodied and not hold prejudice against them. 

The second measure imposed to include persons with disabilities is gathering physically challenged sports persons to represent Singapore in the Paralympics. The Paralympics is an event organised by the International Paralympics Committee for top-tier paralympians to compete in various sporting events and make their country proud. I am sure everyone should know of our country’s most valuable paralympian, Yip Pin Xiu. She was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, which is the weakening of muscles. Despite having a disability, she swam competitively at the age of 12. Through her swimming career, she has won a total of 5 gold medals for Singapore in the Paralympics. This was due to her strong determination and tenacity, which pushed her to greater heights. This exemplifies that even with a disability, people can still make their country proud with their unique talents. I am also certainly very impressed by the paralympians’ strong willpower and they are indeed role models for many. As a result, people with special needs are recognised greatly by society and are not excluded from it.

As to alleviate the situation, more awareness has to be spread about the difficulties faced by the mentally disabled. The target audience for this measure will be younger students, as despite existing initiatives to combat stigma against the mentally disabled in society via existing organisations and initiatives such as MINDS and the Purple Parade, a large majority of these initiatives aim at combating bias throughout the whole of society and are aimed mostly at adults, As such, a more specific approach to this situation will be what is needed.

A possible proposal could be to develop resource packages aimed at the target audience to educate them about the current situation that some of their peers might face, and how they should deal with this situation. Information should also be conveyed to parents to help them teach their children on what exactly mental disabilities are, so that parents too can do their part in helping instil the importance of building a more inclusive society in their children. Parents might have the desire to want to educate their children on how to approach this problem before, but a lack of resources and knowledge on how to best talk to their children about this can hamper prior efforts to do so. Thus, these two initiatives combined can build a better environment for discussion of mental disabilities.

Due to the increased awareness of combating depression, the Singaporean government, together with other organisations, have come together to introduce some measures to help young Singaporeans enhance their mental well being. For example, more polyclinics will be built to make mental health care more accessible to patients to seek help. More frontline staff, social service and community agencies will be trained to understand, identify and respond to depression patients, and the government is introducing initiatives to increase the number of community outreach teams. These initiatives serve to not only provide help in time, but also to raise awareness about psychological illnesses to the public. 

Caregivers face various challenges while caring for a child with ASD, with a negative impact on physical health, psychological well-being, societal reactions, and financial balance. They undergo a lot of problems while taking care of a child with ASD. Health professionals must have an understanding of these problems and must provide these caregivers and the general public with the necessary  education and information for better management of their personal struggles and those they care for. 

Current measures in Singapore:

Full list of informal support groups:

https://www.enablingguide.sg/caring-for-caregivers/informal-support-groups 

Scientifically, loneliness is a subjective phenomenon in which an individual feels a discrepancy between their desired and actual social relationships. This issue is particularly relevant in Singapore as we have a rapidly ageing population and a collectivistic culture, in which relationships and interconnectedness between people are valued. With the number of Singapore residents aged 65 years and above who live alone increasing from 47,000 in 2016 to 67,600 in 2019 and the current ongoing pandemic potentially restricting social activities, the elderly become increasingly likely to feel lonely. Research has shown that lonely older adults not only lived at least three years less than their peers, but also spent less of their remaining life in good health or being active, which makes it a serious issue to note.

Some current measures 

Unaddressed gaps 

Possible ideas