Author Archives: Sherry Toh

Humans like to believe that progress is linear. We were in the Dark Ages, then we weren’t. We were largely illiterate, then we read so much we created demand for the printing press. We didn’t have smartphones and international access to each other via the internet, and…

“Hey, is that Lego?” my brother asks, a spark of interest in his eyes. He leans over to get a better view of my laptop. He’s 17, but in that moment, I see the 7-year-old boy who loved Lego so much, he’d want to immediately begin work on every…

After I was hired as a columnist for SMA News Today, a stack of onboarding documents was sent to my email. I spent an entire day reading them and signing my name systematically. But among the documents, one titled “Writing Advice” drew my deeper attention. I’m not usually one…

Every year, at the end of the annual parade on Singapore’s National Day on Aug. 9, Singaporeans across the world place our fists over our hearts in unison. We then recite our nation’s pledge, promising ourselves and our fellow citizens that we’ll “build a democratic society based on…

Imagine there’s a Singaporean girl with SMA. She’s exhausted by chronic neuropathy, medication, and feeling like she’s worth less than her able-bodied peers. So exhausted, in fact, she struggles with writing about her disability for SMA Awareness Month. “Google is free. Why should I have to make myself uncomfortable…

I never planned on writing about video games for my column. But after three columns about four games by two different studios and counting, I thought it’d be fun to tell the origin story of how gaming became a big part of my life and disability advocacy. So, hit…

Second in a two-part series. Read part one here. “[The] universe demands diversity.” The quote above is from alien scientist Mordin Solus, who’s a character from Mass Effect, a sci-fi video game series by developer BioWare. It’s a simple…

First in a two-part series. I have never seen sci-fi media portray disabilities as casually as in the original trilogy of Mass Effect, a sci-fi video game series by game developer BioWare. For older fans of BioWare, the release of its remastered compilation on May 14 was a…

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…

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…