Story by Anneka Stone
Photo courtesy of Isabel Ong
The pandemic has been one big inconvenience, and it’s evident how it’s also created various inconveniences in our lives. Isabel Ong, 20, recent NYP graduate, is an individual who, at the height of the pandemic, found it hard to adjust to the changes.
She has been living with spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that weakens one’s muscles over time. Isabel uses a motorised wheelchair for travelling around.
However, this has not stopped her from fulfilling her dreams and living life to the fullest. She does need assistance with certain tasks, like taking out items from her school bag, or buying food. But, at the age of 20, she has learnt how to do more of such tasks herself.
“When you’re younger, you tend to depend on people, but I guess that as I’ve grown older, I’ve become more independent,” she says.
Isabel recently graduated from NYP (Nanyang Polytechnic) with a diploma in Business Management. She considers the school a place where she made everlasting friendships. It’s also where she received the encouragement and resources to pursue what she wanted.
She recounts her first year in poly as the most memorable one, when she spent her time exploring the school and frequenting T-junction.
“Pre-COVID, (my friends and I) would go to T-junction and use the facilities, like karaoke, and the X-box,” she says, smiling.
She is also thankful to her lecturers, in particular, Mr Tan Teck Chuan, who offered to help her with her transportation needs.
At the time, Isabel was having many problems, including a spoilt wheelchair battery, which caused a lot of trouble when getting to and back from school.
“I bumped into him … he asked how I was doing. Normally, I’d put up a front and say that I’m fine, but, I don’t know why, that day I just said: ‘Oh, I’m not feeling too good’.”
After hearing her concerns, Mr Tan wanted to help, even offering to hire and pay for a wheelchair taxi service for the entire week of school.
“Even though I declined the offer, I was really grateful. I didn’t expect a lecturer to extend their offer to help a student to such an extent,” Isabel admits.
There was also a SEN (special education needs) counsellor that was always there to help Isabel, rain or shine. She would find accommodations, as well as help Isabel out of school if she was stranded, and even found multiple funds to help Isabel out financially.
Another roadblock appeared when, after finally clinching an internship, transportation proved to be a problem. Her workplace was quite a distance from the MRT, and her mentor was even concerned about her safety.
Thankfully, Isabel was able to cross this hurdle when her SEN counsellor told her about the MEF (Mediacorp Enable Fund), a charity community fund meant to support persons with disabilities and their caregivers. Isabel found a specialised transport provider to help her travel safely to her office, which the MEF helped with defraying the costs.
“It was great because it helped reduce my financial burden. If not, I would have had to cover my entire transportation fee to get to my internship,” she says.
Now working part-time at the same company where she interned at, Isabel is enrolling in SMU this August, to major in PPS (Psychology/Political Science/Sociology). Although it may seem at first glance that Isabel is changing education pathways, both actually have similarities.
“In NYP, I took HR (human resources), and there was one module that was related to psychology. I also took psychology and health sciences electives,” she explains.
Regardless of the differences, what matters the most to Isabel is helping people. Even while studying business, her favourite modules and electives, like HR and psychology, involve assisting others.
“HR is very people-oriented, so … in a way, (it’s about) helping people. Like, for recruitment, you’re helping people secure employment, which could possibly help them to survive or feed their families. It’s all about perspective, really.”
Isabel isn’t entirely sure what the future holds for her. With the world at her fingertips, she has an array of options, but she knows for sure that she wants to help the disadvantaged.
“Whatever knowledge and skills I’ve been equipped with, I want to use that to give back to and help the disabled community to get more understanding from the public to treat them better.”
The Mediacorp Enable Fund (MEF) launched the Sustained C.A.R.E. giving drive to support persons with disabilities and their caregivers in adjusting to a society vastly altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.