Author Archives: Sherry Toh

“Sherry, did you forget about your evening medication yesterday?” my caregiver asked as she held up a plastic bag with a vitamin pill and painkillers. It was Feb. 17, the day after I attended an Ed Sheeran concert with my brother Gabriel. In response, my faced looked like…

One of the hardest aspects of the SMA journey is a loss of independence. If I reach back into the deepest depths of my memory, the first time I can recall this happening was when I started using straws as a child. My mum had noticed I was…

I was apprehensive when I was wheeled into my neurologist’s clinic on Jan. 18. I had taken my last dose of Evrysdi (risdiplam), a life-changing oral treatment that can improve motor function in SMA patients, during the last week of September. That was four months ago.

I used to have this bracelet I loved. My dad bought it for me on a whim on my 16th birthday. We were walking through a high-end department store where he spotted a Swarovski counter. He immediately went up to the salesperson and said, “I want to find something…

Secretly, I usually dread this time of year. To borrow from singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, December is, to me, a “problem child.” It’s not easy to exist inside of this contradictory month, a time of both celebration and solemnity, of looking backward and forward. My birthday…

In retrospect, my girlfriend must’ve been laughing at the ridiculous glee in my texts. “DISABILITY REPRESENTATION!” I practically shrieked at her, my fingers almost tripping over my keyboard. We were watching the first of the three 60th-anniversary “Doctor Who” specials together, though we live time zones…

If you asked me to describe the metaphorical status of games journalism this year, I’d say we’ve descended into carnage. Is that melodramatic? Perhaps. But journalism is a competitive field. When it’s subject to publications and departments closing, mass layoffs, and budget cuts, as it was this year, journalists…

One thing I’ve learned from not going through Singapore’s formal education system is this: When it’s time to be a working adult, to earn your keep, it’s incredibly hard to persuade someone to hire you if you have a blank résumé. Everyone has to start somewhere to gain…

To say Facebook Inc.’s rebrand as Meta Platforms Inc. was controversial would be an understatement. The company’s pivot from being a social media company to a “metaverse” company — essentially, one that focuses on integrating virtual worlds with “real life” — was mocked across…

Content warning: This column deals with the topics of death and suicidal ideation.  “The first dead body you see should not be someone you love,” advises funeral director Poppy Mardall in journalist Hayley Campbell’s 2022 book “All the Living and the Dead.” Campbell’s book provides remarkable insight…