NP in the News

The team behind Real.Scent and their deaf-blind instructors.

Despite being deaf-blind, Ms Tan Siew Ling works independently as an executive assistant in the Chief Executive Officer office at SG Enable, an agency dedicated to enabling persons with disabilities. 

Her story, which was featured in The Straits Times in 2021 as part of the Celebrating SG Women series by Ministry of Social and Family Development Singapore, inspired a group of CDT students to start social enterprise Real.Scent to find employment for the deaf-blind community. 

By focusing on their abilities to smell and touch, the students designed a workshop for the deaf-blind and trained them to be instructors for perfume workshops where they help participants create their own unique blend of perfume. 

They have since managed to find employment for six individuals – one deaf-blind, three visually impaired and two hearing impaired. Their 3-month long campaign has also garnered 408 followers on Instagram with one of their advocacy videos reaching over 2,000 accounts. 

Moving forward, the team targets to be the first workplace in Singapore that creates job opportunities specifically for the deaf-blind. 

Read here about another social enterprise venture by our first batch of CDT students.