ONE way some special needs schools in Britain have been engaging their local communities is by opening up facilities in the school to the families of their students and to the community.

This facilitates understanding and acceptance of their charges, said a keynote speaker at the five-day 19th Asian Federation on Intellectual Disabilities Conference, which ends on Thursday.

Professor Richard Rose, the director of the Centre for Special Needs Education and Research at the University of Northampton, said many British schools - both mainstream and special schools - have 'extended school systems'.

A playgroup at a special school in Rutland, The Parks School, is open not just to the students but also to those who live in the area.

The interaction helps both ways. 'They find it easier to get involved in the general community... to get employment. People have a greater understanding of them and of their needs,' he said.

There have even been proposals in Britain to locate a whole range of facilities, like supermarkets, within the premises of schools, he added.

In Singapore, newly built campuses of special schools have been located alongside mainstream schools.

As for opening up their facilities to the public, Dr Francis Chen, the president of the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN) - which runs four schools here - said it is a novel idea that can be tried, although he was concerned about possible disruptions to school programmes.

Both the APSN and the Movement of the Intectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds) also said the schools they run have programmes where students from mainstream schools interact with their students.

Another organisation that helps those with special needs, the Christian Outreach to the Handicapped, which has two centres in HBD void decks, has found that being in the heartland has brought about greater visibility of the people it is helping.

Its executive director Samuel Koh said: 'Non-accommodation and nonacceptance is largely a result of ignorance... In fact, the onus is on people like ourselves in this sector to actively create opportunities for public awareness and interaction.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.