Or at least that’s what I thought picking up former President of the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped Tan Guan Heng would feel like.Mr Tan is blind, and needed help with transportation to Mediacorp's studios for a recording of The Pulse podcast.
On the journey to the studio, we talked about the other books that he had written – four in total and a fifth, he said, is on its way. We also talked about recent news, programmes that he listened to, and even our families. While vision loss can lead to some limitations, the blind are just as capable of doing many things the average person does, and live full and independent lives.Despite losing his sight in his late 20s, Mr Tan went on to publish several books. He became the first blind person to be a member of Singapore Association of the Blind executive committee, and later president of the association, now known as the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped.
In the 1970s she became a craft teacher at the Singapore School for the Blind where she taught until 1990. Ms Chan story inspiredThere are scores of leaders who don’t let their visual handicap curb their dreams. Molly is also a Paralympic torch bearer, a Miss Teen Canada International winner and a face of Dove’s 2017 ad campaign.The blind and other persons with disabilities are often seen as less than capable. Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-large wrote in Pioneering Disabled And The Able, that “many Singaporeans mistakenly think that the disabled are not as intelligent, not as well educated and not as capable as able people”.