Posts by: Sherry Toh

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

“I’m doing good, I’m on some new s**t/ Been saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘no.’” These lyrics opened Taylor Swift’s song “the 1” and her 2020 album “Folklore.” I thought them ... Read more

December 22, 2021December 22, 2021

What Will Become of Me Once I’m 23?

SMA News Today Columns

“Lord, what will become of me/ Once I’ve lost my novelty?” was the original lyric sung in Taylor Swift’s “Nothing New,” a bonus track she included with her recent remaster ... Read more

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

As an Adult With SMA, I Need Access to Evrysdi, Too

SMA News Today Columns

Let’s start this story about Evrysdi (risdiplam) from the beginning. About a year ago, the chronic neuropathy in my scalp that had been bothering me for three years worsened to ... Read more

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

Yennefer of ‘The Witcher’: A Study in Ableism and Power

SMA News Today Columns

For someone who has watched many a sex scene in movies and television, the sounds were unmistakable, yet unsurprising. Netflix’s “The Witcher,” based on a fantasy book series by Polish ... Read more

November 3, 2021November 3, 2021

NaNoWriMo 2021: To Write or to Rest?

SMA News Today Columns

Hear that? It’s the sound of writers across the world readying to drive ourselves crazy in November for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. We’ve got our blankets, a mug ... Read more

October 27, 2021October 27, 2021

When Dentists Are More Magical Than the Tooth Fairy

SMA News Today Columns

At every briefing before their shift, the nurses at my local children’s hospital would glance at me with amusement. As a child, I was often in the hospital for respiratory ... Read more

October 20, 2021October 20, 2021

IGDA’s Game Accessibility Conference Was the Experience I Needed

SMA News Today Columns

I was unprepared for the thrill I’d experience when I logged into the instant messaging platform, Discord, and clicked on the server for the two-day Games Accessibility conference. Also known ... Read more

October 6, 2021October 6, 2021

‘I Ain’t There Yet, but I’m Healing’

SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more

September 22, 2021September 22, 2021

The Possibility of Radical Accessibility Is Here, as Told Through Lego and Gaming

SMA News Today Columns

“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 ... Read more

September 1, 2021September 1, 2021

For the Love Who Stayed on My Darkest Nights

SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021

Justice and Equality for SMA Patients Is Justice and Equality for All

SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021

A Plea for Singapore to Approve SMA Treatments

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more

July 21, 2021July 21, 2021

The Friends and Fate I Chose Thanks to ‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more

July 14, 2021July 14, 2021

Disability Representation in BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy, Part 2: Demands of Diversity

SMA News Today Columns

Second in a two-part series. Read part one here. “ universe demands diversity.” The quote above is from alien scientist Mordin Solus, who’s a character from Mass Effect, a sci-fi ... Read more

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021

Disability Representation in BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy, Part 1: Cause for Hope

COVID-19 Columns, SMA News Today Columns

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 ... Read more