Denise Phua Lay Peng is a Singaporean politician and disability rights activist. After a successful corporate career spanning two decades, she gave up her corporate career to become a full-time special needs volunteer. She became the president of the Autism Resource Centre and co-founded Pathlight School. She is currently a Member of Parliament representing the ruling People's Action Party in Jalan Besar GRC. As an MP, she has focused on developing programmes for the disabled and special needs communities in Singapore. She currently chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education and is a member of the GPC for Social and Family Development. She is also the Mayor of the Central Singapore District.
Her son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. As Phua consulted professionals and did research on how to help him, she thought about how she could help other autistic children. She subsequently founded WeCAN, a charity which helps caregivers of autistic people and offers early intervention programmes for autistic preschoolers. In 2005, Phua left the corporate world to be a full-time special needs volunteer. She and her partners sold the Centre of Effective Leadership to Right Management, a Manpower Inc. subsidiary. Phua then became president of the Autism Resource Centre. She often wrote to newspapers and government agencies on issues affecting the special needs community. Phua is best known for her advocacy for those who are at risk of being left behind in Singapore, and frequently speaks up for the disabled and Singaporeans with low-skilled and low-income backgrounds. She is one of the key architects behind three 5-year Enabling Masterplans for the Disabled in Singapore. Phua is also the co-founder and former acting principal of Pathlight School, the first special school for autistic children in Singapore. The school offers mainstream curriculum and life skills education to its students. A believer in helping autistic people realise their potential and integrate into society, Phua helped develop many of the school's programmes. These include employability skills training through a student-run café, specialised vocational training, and satellite classes where Pathlight students mix with mainstream students. In four years, enrolment increased tenfold and the school attracted media attention for its impact on students. Continuing her volunteer efforts, Phua continues to supervise two charities – Autism Resource Centre and Autism Association, and two special schools – Pathlight School and Eden School.
Political career
Phua joined the ruling PAP's Jalan Besar branch in 2004. The following year, she was appointed to the Feedback Supervisory Panel, which leads the government's Feedback Unit. In the 2006 general election, she was fielded as a PAP candidate in Jalan Besar GRC, which was contested by the Singapore Democratic Alliance. During the election campaign, she promised to make Singapore a more inclusive society by representing the disabled and special needs communities. The PAP team won Jalan Besar GRC with 69.26% of the vote. In July 2006, the PAP formed a workgroup, headed by Phua, to explore initiatives to improve the financial security of disabled and special needs children. Phua also led a committee that drew up a five-year plan to improve services for special needs children. The PAP studied their proposals and later implemented some, such as a National non-profit Special Needs Trust Fund. Laws were also drafted to prohibit abuse of the mentally disabled and to allow parents to appoint someone to look after their special needs children after they die.
Non-political career
Phua was appointed Mayor of Central Singapore District in 2014 for a three-year term, and was reappointed for the following term in 2017. As Mayor, Phua has initiated many projects to meet the needs of her residents. These include a suite of more than 50 community programmes by the Central Singapore Community Development Council to help residents live a better life, and build a do-good district. Among them are:
Nurture, a 40-week programme to develop confident and self-directed learners in communications and problem solving;
In Search of Purpose talk series, to spur residents on in finding their bigger purpose in life;
Silver Friends, a platform to bring volunteers and partners to serve the seniors through a series of silver programmes; and
The Purple Symphony, Singapore’s largest inclusive orchestra comprising musicians with and without special needs.
