When I was diagnosed with SMA, my parents were confronted with a pivotal choice: stay in Singapore or move the three of us to the U.S., where they’d heard there might be an experimental gene therapy that could treat me. It’s a decision that would have altered the course of…
Wandering the Lines — Sherry Toh
Sherry “Elisa” Toh (she/they) is a journalist who lives in sunny Singapore. Her diagnosis of SMA type II was in 1999 at 13 months old. Kyphoscoliosis and chronic neuropathy later developed as complications. As a hopeless romantic, her loves include fairy tales, tea, and gaming — the last being the primary focus of her work. She has bylines in PCGamesN, NME, and more. In 2023, her essay “Virtual Progress: A Disabled Journalist’s Thoughts on the Video Games Industry” was published in Singapore’s first printed disability studies anthology, “Not Without Us: Perspective on Disabilities and Inclusion in Singapore.” She writes in hopes of offering community and catharsis. Find her @sherlisass on social media.
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Unintentionally, last year, most of my immediate family bought me Christmas gifts with the same theme. My brother, Gabriel, got me a handmade blue-and-white scarf from China. Mom got me a sheer-ish white shawl. My stepdad got me a red knitted cardigan. See what they’re all aiming for yet? Together,…
I am giddy with excitement. Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” plays on my iPhone as I begin writing a column about that album and its effect on my life. I know exactly what I want to say, how its structure will…
On April 9, I traveled back in time. I mean this metaphorically, of course. As much as I wish time travel were feasible in our world, it unfortunately remains the stuff of science fiction and fantasy. Thus, revisiting media I loved as a kid and looking…
A woman lies in a hospital bed, her breathing erratic and her forehead damp with sweat. She’s shaking from the pain she’s in. In a matter of days, the loss of control and sensation in her legs has spread to her right hand and is now progressing to…
The first and last time I consulted an orthopedic surgeon, I was told I had a 50-50 chance of surviving a spinal fusion. “Her lung capacity is 24% at its highest,” the surgeon told my parents. Their faces fell. I could sense their apprehension.
Ever the dry self-deprecator, I send my Chinese New Year column to my dear friend Brianna with a message stating, “I sound like a gremlin here. Which is fine with me.” (Translation: “Yikes,…
The August 2020 issue of the archaeological journal Antiquity contained a fascinating look at ancient Greek architecture titled, “The architecture of access: ramps at ancient Greek healing sanctuaries.” It was written by Debby Sneed, a classicist at…
My neurologist presses his stethoscope to my chest. He’s performing a routine checkup; it’s a mere formality, really, so I can be sent home with my prescription for gabapentin refilled. It’s over as soon as I breathe in and out and he has…
It is my yearly Chinese New Year tradition to complain about Chinese New Year. As with all honored traditions, this one goes back to my earliest memories of the holiday: My mum’s footsteps echoing throughout our house as she cooked breakfast before the sun rose. The…
The video game “Cyberpunk 2077” has become one of my go-to coping mechanisms. I know that’s an odd statement to hear from someone writing on a platform dedicated to disability advocacy, considering the backlash that video game developer CD Projekt Red has received due partly…
“I wish I were normal,” I used to say to my mum. I told her this at other kids’ birthday parties, when they played musical chairs or went on scavenger hunts. I said it during emergency hospital stays and in front of the TV, when…
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