'Be part of the solution': Lawyer fights for people with invisible disabilities

She envisions a more inclusive society for those with mental health conditions and special needs

- Christine Tan

About 400 people from the legal, medical and social services circles came together in March at the State Courts for the inaugural Access to Justice Symposium.

It was there that then Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong announced that the Ministry of Law would be committed to a multi-agency task force to support individuals with invisible disabilities within the justice system, including those with mental health conditions and special needs.

Behind this milestone is one woman: veteran lawyer Peggy Yee, 61, who has been an advocate for people with invisible disabilities for more than two decades.

Ms Yee, who runs her own law firm, PY Legal, chaired the organising committee of the symposium, and spent a year persuading government agencies and tapping her networks to bring it to life. The event was hosted by legal aid charity Pro Bono SG.

For Ms Yee, whose legal career spans 38 years, the effort was personal: a long-held vision of a more inclusive society for people with mental health conditions, autism, intellectual disabilities and other invisible needs.

"When you recognise that there's a need, and no one is doing something, I feel personally responsible," Ms Yee told The Sunday Times in a September interview at her Clarke Quay office.