13 people with disabilities honoured at 2024 Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards

USING TECHNOLOGY TO BRIDGE THE GAP

GCTEA (Promise) award recipients also included those that drove innovation to better the lives of persons with disabilities, such as 40-year-old Toh Kok Peng. 

Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2020, Mr Toh is the co-founder of the Motor Neurone Disease Association Singapore (MNDa Singapore), which strives to improve the lives of patients with motor neurone diseases (MND) and their families through assistive technology.

“This community provides patients and caregivers a space to share and address any issues they are facing, as well as provide support to one another. We also raised funds to create some programmes to aid patients,” he told CNA.

Mr Toh took months to come to terms with his diagnosis, finding it the most difficult to accept the inexorable decline of his body. 

“I went from being a physically fit and active person, one who ran marathons and was independent, to one who needs help for all the physical aspects of my life,” he recounted. 

“I was fortunate that I was diagnosed quite early in my condition, so I was able to prepare myself for the difficult journey ahead.” 

Mr Toh uses an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device controlled by his eye movements to communicate with those around him. This device gave him the opportunity to work for another three years despite his declining fine and gross motor skills. 

“Technology has evolved significantly in the past few years, and I am thankful that I am able to leverage on technology to regain some independence in my life, such as communicating with others using my computer, despite my disabilities,” he said.

He now encourages others with similar conditions to do the same after kick-starting a programme at MNDa that loans out eye-tracking AAC devices to those who cannot afford them. 

“We wanted to address the gaps that we experienced after diagnosis, due to the rarity of this condition in this country. We wanted to create more awareness for the condition and bring everyone whose lives have been impacted by MND together in one community,” he said.