HealthierID

In PWIDs, the ageing process is accelerated: Their lifespans are usually 20 years shorter and by middle age, ageing-related diseases start to emerge.

Their suffering, however, is silent. While generally well-supported during childhood by a myriad of early intervention and education services, many PWIDs fall out of the care system after graduating from special education schools. Without employment or social networks, life skills that took so much to acquire during childhood are quickly lost. Many are homebound for most of their lives.

By their 40s, they start facing the same healthcare challenges their ageing parents face. But healthcare professionals struggle to diagnose and treat PWIDs, who are unable to articulate their bodily pain or self-regulate sufficiently for medical procedures, however routine, to be administered. Often, health conditions are erroneously attributed to disability.

In HealthierID, Singapore’s first specialist clinic for PWIDs – IDHealth – will augment its existing health and social services by integrating dementia and palliative care. This will be done via clinical services, new assessment tools customised for PWIDs, a training course on the healthcare needs of PWIDs, and referral processes with dementia and palliative care providers.

As with schools and workplaces, healthcare must also be inclusive.