The Terror and Beauty of Miracles
I had different plans for this week’s column. As I write this, I have a spreadsheet open with my column schedule. Next to the deadline date I’ve typed “TFIOS column,” which stands for “The Fault in Our Stars,”…
Wandering the Lines — Sherry Toh
Sherry “Elisa” Toh (she/they) is a hopeless romantic navigating life in sunny Singapore. She was diagnosed with SMA Type II at 13 months, and lives with kyphoscoliosis and chronic neuropathy as complications. Her loves include fairy tales, mythology, antiheroes, video games, and tea. She is planning on pursuing a BA in English Lit, but, for now, is enjoying freelance work and volunteering for communities and causes she believes in. She hopes her columns will offer community and catharsis to those who need it. Find her @sherlisass on social media.
Featured Post
There’s No Success Without Rest
As you get older, proper rest tends to become an appointment you have to schedule. It’s something you have an abundance of when you’re an infant, but its presence steadily decreases in your life once school, work, and social…
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I Won’t Quit My Fight for Access to Evrysdi in Singapore
Editor’s note: This column discusses suicide. Please find resources for help at the end of the column. I wish the call had been an April Fools’ prank. As readers of my column will know, I’ve been very vocal about…
What Disability Rights Activists Can Learn From Women’s Rights Activists
Back in 2019, I signed up for an online women’s health and rights course by women’s rights activist and Stanford teacher Anne Firth Murray. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision; I’m not even sure I was truly interested in it…
To Me, Eugenics Proves That Society Is Inaccessible
How would you expect someone with a disability to react upon reading an account of a nondisabled man essentially telling a disabled woman she shouldn’t exist? Would you expect them to react with despair? Fear? Rage? I reacted by…
Houston, We Have a(n Intersectionality) Problem
If Broadway’s Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a musical based on my column, the word “value” would be a leitmotif with its own melody. Anyone who reads my column regularly will know I talk about the value of disabled folks…
‘I’m in Love.’ Ain’t That the Worst Thing You Ever Heard?
Like all young girls, I was part of the target demographic for romance. Disney and Barbie movies, pop music, young adult novels, TV dramas — you get the idea. Romance was sold to me everywhere, and I bought it…
Celebrating My First Anniversary of Writing ‘Wandering the Lines’
The morning of Dec. 4, 2020, my life changed forever. My best friend, fellow columnist, and work wife, Brianna Albers, burst into our private Discord channel. “YOU SHOULD APPLY,” she yelled at me through the messaging platform. Attached…
‘Don’t Quit Before the Miracle Happens’
“I’m doing good, I’m on some new s**t/ Been saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘no.’” These lyrics opened Taylor Swift’s song “the 1” and her 2020 album “Folklore.” I thought them…
What Will Become of Me Once I’m 23?
“Lord, what will become of me/ Once I’ve lost my novelty?” was the original lyric sung in Taylor Swift’s “Nothing New,” a bonus track she included with her recent remaster of her…
As an Adult With SMA, I Need Access to Evrysdi, Too
Let’s start this story about Evrysdi (risdiplam) from the beginning. About a year ago, the chronic neuropathy in my scalp that had been bothering me for three years worsened to a point of concern. It started as a…
Yennefer of ‘The Witcher’: A Study in Ableism and Power
For someone who has watched many a sex scene in movies and television, the sounds were unmistakable, yet unsurprising. Netflix’s “The Witcher,” based on a fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, pulls no punches…
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