New campaign by Singapore charity TomoWork spotlights persons with invisible disabilities
Mr Thaddaeus John Tham Yong Yi (right), who has dyslexia, and Ms Lai Su Ying, who is hard of hearing, at the launch of the Infinity Within Campaign at Republic Polytechnic on June 12. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
New campaign by Singapore charity TomoWork spotlights persons with invisible disabilities
SINGAPORE – In secondary school, Mr Thaddaeus John Tham Yong Yi struggled in spelling and grammar. While his classmates were were doing well , he was barely passing his English composition essays.
Unknown to them, Mr Tham has dyslexia, an invisible disability that affects his reading and writing skills.
Unaware of his condition, his peers were confused as to why he was poor in the English language.
When he later entered Ngee Ann Polytechnic to study biomedical engineering, the feeling of isolation deepened.
This changed when he found help from TomoWork, a Singapore charity which advocates for disability inclusion in companies.
Mr Tham, 20, has now taken a further step by helping to raise awareness of people with invisible disabilities like himself.
The recent polytechnic graduate is part of a group of youth who worked with TomoWork to help shape a new campaign called Infinity Within.
The year-long campaign, announced at Republic Polytechnic at the Tomo Day 2025 event on June 12, calls for greater support for people with invisible disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, and partial hearing or vision loss in Singapore.
The campaign will feature a mix of online and offline initiatives, such as videos and articles available at https://infinity-within.com/, and talks at TomoWork's corporate partners such as insurer Singlife to raise public awareness.
As part of the campaign, TomoWork has produced an 'imVISIBLE pin'. In the shape of an infinity symbol, the pin is half-purple and half-transparent.
The purple on the imVISIBLE pin represents allyship with persons with disabilities, while the transparent portion represents the unseen challenges of invisible disabilities. The infinity symbol is used as it has been a long-standing symbol associated with neurodiversity.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
The pin is meant for individuals to identify themselves with an invisible disability, for allies to show support for inclusion and to foster conversations about such disabilities.
Speaking at the event, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development Eric Chua said: 'The pin represents not just disability, but also our collective commitment to build a more empathetic, caring and inclusive Singapore where everyone can truly contribute and thrive.'
Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Social and Family Development & Ministry of Law, speaks at the launch of the Infinity Within Campaign.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Mr Tham, who helped design the pin, hopes that it will remind persons with disabilities that they are not alone.
He said: 'I hope that the pin becomes a powerful, lasting symbol that shows people with invisible disabilities do exist, and that they deserve to be seen, heard and respected.'
Mr Tham found a stronger sense of belonging after meeting peers with similar experiences, after joining TomoWork's Talent Accelerator Programme in 2025.
The stint is a 12-week programme that aims to bridge the gap between education and employment for graduating polytechnic and ITE students with disabilities, by preparing them for work and helping them learn soft skills.
During the programme, groups of students are attached to an organsation to come up with a solution to a problem.
The programme's participants helped to produce all online content for the Infinity Within campaign.
The pin will be given to all 33 participants of the 2025 programme, which ends on June 13, as well as donors who donate S$60 and above to TomoWork.
Now in its fifth edition, 118 students with special educational needs have benefitted from the Talent Accelerator Programme since 2021. And nearly 80 per cent of them have found jobs within six months of completing the programme.
Ms Lai Su Ying, 21, a participant of the programme in 2024, helped create videos for the campaign, sharing her experiences and challenges with her disability.
Ms Lai, who is hard of hearing, hopes that the campaign will bring more attention to persons with disabilities and that general public will be more inclusive towards them.
She said: 'We're not just disabled people. We are persons with disabilities. We are not disability focused first, we are still people first. We are all still people, and we are all still human.'
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Lyon owner Textor to step back from club management
PHILADELPHIA - American businessman John Textor plans to step back from the day-to-day management of Olympique Lyonnais following the club's relegation to Ligue 2, which was confirmed after a meeting with French football's financial watchdog (DNCG) this week. Textor, who owns the French club through his Eagle Football Group, revealed his decision in an interview with Brazil's TV Globo on Saturday, shortly before his Brazilian side Botafogo lost 1-0 to Palmeiras in the Club World Cup, saying he could have dealt better with French football politics. Lyon's demotion was provisionally announced by the DNCG in November due to financial irregularities and was confirmed on Tuesday. Textor said the club would appeal against the decision and that Lyon's financial position remained strong despite the ruling. "I will tell you that we're very well capitalised in France," Textor told TV Globo. "It's clear that I've been much better on the pitch than managing France. I have not been so good at the politics of France. I think that's well known. So the process is, for me, as an American capitalist, adjusting to that system." Textor said his focus would shift towards broader responsibilities within Eagle Football Group which also includes Botafogo and formerly included a 43% stake in English club Crystal Palace, sold earlier this week. "I am going to spend a lot more time focusing on Eagle Global, coming back frankly a bit more to Botafogo," he said. "I've got very good partners in the Eagle Football Group shareholders who are going to take a lead on dealing with some of the issues that I have frankly not been very good at dealing with." Despite Lyon's relegation, Textor highlighted the club's recent achievements, including back-to-back qualifications for the Europa League, and reassured fans about their financial stability. "We've never been more liquid in cash. But there are things in the process I did that disappointed the governing bodies there that we need to fix," Textor said. "We did pass through the financial sustainability review with UEFA, which is quite a comprehensive process. So the fact that we didn't pass through France has more to do with some of the specific elements that I brought to the table that I should have improved." Textor hinted at a potential acquisition in the United Kingdom to replace the Crystal Palace stake. "We have our U.K. strategy where we need to look at who our new club is. What are we going to buy there? What's the partnership? Because it's that collaboration between the clubs that's been so successful for us," he said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
a day ago
- Straits Times
Surviving terror, investing in hope: How entrepreneur Shiv Puri turned survival into purpose and prosperity
Mr Shiv Puri, a philanthropist and the founder and managing director of TVF Capital Advisors, at Sentosa Golf Club on June 23, 2025. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO Wong Kim Hoh meets... Surviving terror, investing in hope: How entrepreneur Shiv Puri turned survival into purpose and prosperity Meet Mr Shiv Puri and you might think he has breezed through life, helped along by luck and a few well-timed tailwinds. The 48-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist laughs easily, tells great stories and carries the steady calm of someone who has seen the extremes of human experience and lived to tell the tale. Behind the easy charm is a mind forged by discipline – on the golf course, where he was a teenage amateur champion; in the boardroom, as founder of boutique equity firm TVF Capital Advisors; and most profoundly, in the face of mortality, having survived the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The last experience reshaped his outlook and brought a deeper purpose to his pursuit of success. Now a Singaporean, Mr Puri was born in Mumbai but moved to New Delhi when he was a child. His entrepreneur father, who left a stable job to start a real estate business, and his mother, a homemaker, raised him and his older sister in what he describes as a 'very normal upbringing'. But normal is relative. Even as a child, he was 'very driven to want to do something on my own'. At 11, he started his first business: buying cricket cards wholesale and selling them to classmates, undercutting the vendor outside his school. The profits, he recalls, were 'great money for a kid', enough to supplement his meagre pocket money and fund fast-food treats. Around the same age, he discovered golf. His father had joined a club, and young Shiv tagged along, quickly becoming hooked. 'Golf is a mental sport. It's all in the mind,' he says. By 15, he was playing internationally, and at 17, he represented India at the World Schools Golf Championship in St Andrews, Scotland, the sport's hallowed ground and the oldest golf course in the world. Golf, he explains, is less about beating others and more about 'competing against the course'. It taught him resilience. He says: 'If you hit a bad shot, it's over, it's behind you... don't dwell on the past. You can still regroup and have a good round.' These lessons – patience, focus and the ability to recover from setbacks – would later become the bedrock of his investment philosophy. When it came time for university, he set his sights on the United States, a bold move in the mid-1990s, when few in his family had ventured so far. His parents agreed, on one condition: He would study engineering. 'I had no idea about engineering, but I said yes,' he says. At the University of Pennsylvania, he went a step further, landing a spot at the prestigious Wharton School and juggling a dual degree in systems engineering and finance. 'I had to do the engineering degree to make mum and dad happy,' he says with a laugh. It was at Wharton that he stumbled upon the writings of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, the minds behind American multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. Their no-nonsense wisdom and long-term investing philosophy struck a chord and would go on to deeply shape his world view. To save on tuition, he crammed five years of coursework into four. Despite the punishing schedule – 'in my final semester, my friends were taking two classes... I had seven, plus golf' – he thrived. Playing off a handicap of one, Mr Puri was part of the team that led Penn to its first Ivy League championship in 66 years. By the time he graduated in 1998, one thing was clear: Engineering had sharpened his problem-solving skills, but his heart was in finance. He landed his first job at investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York, working in private equity, ironically, in real estate. 'My dad was very happy,' he says. The hours were brutal, the learning curve steep, but the experience invaluable. Yet, after two years, he craved more than just 'crunching numbers and thinking about Excel sheets'. The lure of Silicon Valley – and the boom – proved irresistible. He joined Crescendo, a venture capital firm, just as the tech bubble was inflating. 'We'd make investments, and the value would shoot up 30 times in a year. I thought, 'Making money is so easy!'' he recalls, with a wry smile. After the bust, Mr Shiv Puri realised that venture capital – picking winners from a sea of business plans – was not where his edge lay. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO Then came the crash. 'In one year, I saw people I thought were the best investors lose everything. That was the single best risk management lesson I've ever had. No textbook could teach me that.' 'Even today, when there are market bubbles or exuberance, that risk filter subconsciously is always there,' he adds. After the bust, Mr Puri realised that venture capital – picking winners from a sea of business plans – was not where his edge lay. In 2001, he joined Bain Capital in Boston, this time focusing on public equities. 'Six months into the job, I knew this was what I wanted to do forever,' he says. The appeal? The ability to analyse established businesses, look beyond short-term noise and invest with a long horizon. But the entrepreneurial itch returned. In 2004, Mr Puri launched his own fund, TVF (The Voyager Fund), with a modest pool of capital of US$5 million and a simple philosophy inspired by Mr Buffett and Mr Munger: 'Play long-term games with long-term people.' He sought investors who were willing to commit for years, and focused on businesses he could hold for a decade or more. 'Compounding is everything,' he says. 'All good things happen because of compounding, whether it's wealth, health, family or relationships.' The approach was unusual in the world of public markets, where most investors chase quick returns. Asked how a 27-year-old resisted the allure of fast money, he says: 'There's a lot of noise and turbulence when you're flying at a certain level but if you fly slightly higher, it's actually calmer. And you can see the horizon better.' Mr Shiv Puri with the late Mr Charles Munger, vice-chairman of American multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, in 2019. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SHIV PURI Word spread. Institutional investors – family offices, college endowments, even a sovereign wealth fund – came knocking. Today, the company manages more than 150 times its original capital, with a team split between Singapore and India. TVF's approach is resolutely bottom-up, focused on sectors like financial services, healthcare (especially hospitals), technology and consumer discretionary, particularly in India and South-east Asia. Key investments which the company has held for more than a decade include Max Healthcare, a major player in India's healthcare sector; Info Edge, an early-stage tech company that grew into a big online classifieds business; and Bajaj Finance, a non-banking financial company with a market capitalisation that has gone from US$3 billion in 2015 to US$65 billion (S$83 billion) today. 'We look for businesses that can scale, maintain quality and have a long runway for growth,' he says. 'Patience is active, very active endurance, knowing that there's a goal, knowing that you're making progress but it's not immediate,' he says sagely. He insists on getting to know founders deeply, sometimes over decades, before investing. 'It's not just about the person at the top, but the culture within the firm,' he says. If golf taught him patience, and the crash taught him risk, it was the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 that taught him perspective. On the night of Nov 26 that year, Mr Puri, his wife and two friends were having pre-dinner aperitifs at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel's Harbour Bar when gunfire erupted. 'At first, we thought someone had dropped a lot of plates,' he recalls. But the reality soon became clear. Drawing on his knowledge of the hotel's layout – he got married there a year earlier – he led his group through kitchens and corridors, seeking refuge. They hid in the chef's office, lights off, chairs braced against the door, as terrorists stalked the hallways. At one point, he heard a terrorist outside the door asking a hotel employee if there were guests inside. 'At that point, the terrorists were not shooting the servers, waiters or chefs unless they came in the line of fire. They wanted to shoot the guests, the foreigners, people who would make headlines. Luckily, the employee said there was no one inside.' Later, a heroic chef – who unfortunately died in the course of the night – led them to a business lounge packed with 150 people. When an evacuation was attempted, the first 30 people in line were gunned down. Mr Puri and his wife and friends were just four places behind. 'It was pure luck,' he says quietly. They spent the night lying flat on the floor, frozen as gunfire echoed around them, until commandos finally rescued them at dawn. 'I always had an innate belief that it was going to be okay,' he says. His wife, meanwhile, could think only of their five-week-old baby at home. After the incident, she struggled to leave the house for months, but Mr Puri went back to work two days later. The experience was transformative. 'After that, nothing in business, no market crisis, could come close. It put everything in perspective.' His brush with death was a turning point, he says. 'I became much more deliberate about purpose. Wealth creation has to have a purpose. For me, that's making an impact, especially in education and healthcare,' says Mr Puri, who also set up his own family office, Vesta Global Capital, in 2015. Over time, he channelled his energies into philanthropy, especially in education. 'Education can really change lives. It's the best form of pay-it-forward,' says Mr Puri, who, among other things, helped scale Prayas, a non-governmental organisation that runs after-school programmes for disadvantaged children in Delhi, and co-founded Ashoka University, now India's largest liberal arts institution. His involvement goes beyond funding. He is actively building bridges between Ashoka and the National University of Singapore (NUS), fostering student exchanges and entrepreneurial internships. In Singapore, where he moved to after the Mumbai attacks, he also sits on the international advisory council of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, mentoring young doctors and entrepreneurs. Mr Shiv Puri planting a tree in 2016 at Ashoka University, which he co-founded. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SHIV PURI Healthcare, particularly eldercare, is his next frontier. 'How do you age gracefully? It's about finding purpose, getting respect and still feeling like you're a valuable member of society even though you're not working. It's a combination of all these things,' he says. For insights into long-term thinking, he studies Mr Buffett's annual letters. For perspective, he turns to Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, a collection of writings on Stoic philosophy. Among other things, Stoic philosophy focuses on staying grounded, resilient and at peace by focusing on what you can control and letting go of what you can't. Despite the constant drumbeat of bad news and global woes, the father of two teenagers prefers to remain optimistic. 'Civilisation requires trust. I think optimism is a default setting. It doesn't mean you're being naive. But I think people are far too pessimistic, especially in the investing world.' He adds: 'Human ingenuity cannot be underestimated. And despite all we have endured in the past, we are still living in the most prosperous time on earth.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
Businesses have a role to promote multiculturalism and cohesion, say panellists at S'pore conference
(From right) Venerable Napan Thawornbanjob, Banyan Group founder Ho Kwon Ping and Minister of State Dinesh Vasu Dash at a plenary session during the International Conference on Cohesive Societies on June 26. The panel was moderated by Professor Mona Siddiqui. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Businesses have a role to promote multiculturalism and cohesion, say panellists at S'pore conference SINGAPORE - Businesses have a role to play in promoting multiculturalism and this cannot be the responsibility of the Government alone, said panellists on June 26, the last day of the International Conference on Cohesive Societies. Mr Ho Kwon Ping, founder and executive chairman of hospitality company Banyan Group, cited how US businesses dropped DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies after US President Donald Trump issued executive orders limiting such programmes within federal agencies and among contractors. Speaking during a plenary session on the third and final day of the conference held at Raffles City Convention Centre, Mr Ho questioned how many businesses in Singapore would still promote multiculturalism if the government of the day does not take the lead on it. 'Multiculturalism must be a value that we deeply believe in,' he said, adding that the onus falls on the majority race or culture to promote true multiculturalism which goes beyond co-existence. Mr Ho said Banyan Group employs 15,000 associates of 96 nationalities across 25 countries. He said the company sends diverse groups of people, or 'task forces', to the opening of a new hotel. 'We go out of our way to put task forces that are there not just because of their different skills, but because of their different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds.' He said consumers should keep companies accountable to their DEI policies, which should be taught in business schools. Fellow speaker Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Manpower, cited the Singapore Government's three main pillars to ensure a multicultural society: the Ethnic Integration Policy in public housing, the use of the English language as a lingua franca alongside mother tongue languages, as well as national service. Agreeing with Mr Ho, he said multiculturalism should be a goal that businesses and civil society, including religious organisations, take on. He cited how religious leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh communities banded together after the stabbing of a priest at St Joseph's Church in Bukit Timah in November 2024, condemning the violence and expressing solidarity with the Catholic community here. Mr Dinesh said Singapore should double its efforts in promoting multiculturalism, as cohesion is important for a small country like Singapore. 'Naturally, there will be many forces that will pull us apart, perhaps now more than ever, given what's happening in the West, given the influence of social media; and therefore, we should double our efforts,' he said. There are initial signs of unity in Singapore, he added, but divisive forces could potentially pull apart people if differences in race, religion, language and culture are triggered and not managed well. Mr Ho also raised the growing issue of class divides. He has seen income inequality widen and the 'social ethos' shift in a 'worrying' direction in Singapore, with many young tycoons here flaunting their wealth, he said. 'I don't think any of us believe in a communist society where everyone has equal wealth and equal income, but we must be a society that does not promote the flaunting of that social divisiveness,' he said. Similarly, Mr Dinesh said Singapore should pay attention to tackling inequality as the nation grows as a financial hub, attracting money from different parts of the world. 'If that is not balanced sufficiently, if society reacts in a certain way, then it will be an issue of haves versus have-nots,' he said. Speaking to the media after the plenary session, Mr Dinesh said external forces such as the 'rivalry among the great powers leading to inflation and higher cost of living' could exacerbate economic differences within countries. 'We should address those issues by policy levers to make sure that income divides within Singapore are kept to a reasonable amount,' he said. He added that more should be done to engage young people who 'increasingly feel disconnected' and may not have the benefit of hindsight. Deliberate steps need to be taken to address their concerns about housing affordability and job security in the age of artificial intelligence, he said. The panel's moderator, Professor Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, asked why people are not more committed to multiculturalism. Mr Ho said one hurdle is the fear of the unknown. He suggested that travelling to neighbouring countries can help young Singaporeans who are typically more familiar with Western cultures understand Asean cultures better. The panel's third speaker, Venerable Napan Thawornbanjob, chair of the Institute of Buddhist Management for Happiness and Peace and secretary-general of Religions for Peace Thailand, said interfaith dialogues allow people to act on their curiosity and learn about other cultures. He highlighted the importance of forging friendships between religions, and of reaching out to educate people on religions through the media. He also emphasised the need for open-mindedness to reject the hate speech that broke out after conflicts in Thailand's southern border, citing his opportunities to interact with Muslim religious leaders and politicians. 'If we want to win this war, we need to adjust our way of thinking, our way of communication and our way of action, and especially how we collaborate.' Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
