Of all the works of art in the world, the one masterpiece with an undue influence on my writing is the Broadway production of “Hamilton.” Maybe it’s a cliche for a writer and musical nerd in her 20s to say this, but when I listened to the “Hamilton”…
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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To its credit, “The Beauty,” a new sci-fi, body-horror miniseries from Ryan Murphy, co-creator of “American Horror Story” and other acclaimed projects, dives deeper into the topic of genetic editing and disability than most sci-fi shows I’ve seen. Typically, as in “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” genetic editing is framed either as…
Note: This column includes thoughts about suicide. Resources for help are listed at the end of the column. On a brown and white display cabinet in my living room are two framed pictures of me. One was taken in a professional studio when I was about 6 years old. I’m…
SMA Awareness Month is upon us! To celebrate and remind everyone that raising awareness includes talking about our daily lives and relationships, I’m honored my best friend, Brianna Albers, said yes to the crazy idea of us interviewing and challenging each other publicly. Please read her interview with…
From my perspective, the typical path to becoming a journalist looks like this: First, you enter the formal education system and learn what you can from kindergarten till high school. Then, you try to figure out what you’re going to do with your life for the next several decades. You…
A single lyric keeps ringing in my head from Fletcher’s latest single, “Her Body Is Bible.” It goes, “Hold on tight, when the world gets hard, this s**t’s like paradise.” The song appears pretty straightforward at first blush. The lyrics and the imagery are simple, attempting to reclaim religious…
When my little brother and I were barely out of our toddler years, there was one question I’d constantly hear other parents ask my mum: “Did your children get all their vaccination shots?” To which my mum would reply: “Yes. After their father refused to let Sherry receive the vaccination…
This Pride Month, I recalled an old friend from England telling me, “If anyone thinks being gay or bi is a choice or a lifestyle, they’re probably not straight.” It’s a broad statement, one I believed then, but not anymore. In the years since I’ve heard it, I’ve known people…
For the past several months, I’ve been obsessed with stories about financial fraud by perpetrators of elaborate schemes. Hence, I fell down the rabbit hole of the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO and founder of Theranos, a startup company Holmes promised would change the face of healthcare…
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 engagements take up increasing space. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon among my…
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,” a young adult romance novel by John Green that explores how…
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 the need for SMA patients here in Singapore to access…
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 back then. While I considered myself a feminist, I was wary…
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