Felicia Chin, Elvin Ng visit autism-focused school

SINGAPORE — Celebrities Felicia Chin and Elvin Ng visited Pathlight School on Thursday to deliver a motivational talk as part of an annual series of school tours organised by MediaCorp’s The Celebrity Agency. The event was hosted by 987FM DJ Gerald Koh.

Pathlight is Singapore’s first school for students aged seven to 21 with autism and related learning disorders. And as excited as the 380 students were to see the actors, Chin and Ng were even more enthusiastic about their hour-long visit, during which they shared their stories, answered questions and posed for photos.

During the question-and-answer session, Pathlight students wanted to know things such as the artistes’ favourite music and movie genres, what their first year at MediaCorp and student life were like for them.

“I think I took away a lot more than what they took from us,” said Ng, who added that he felt a certain closeness to the students, having played autistic roles in the past. “This group of people on the fringe — they have mild autism, for example, or are high-functioning — they need support. It is tough for their family members as well. Interacting with the kids in school, I felt happy like never before. They are very truthful and sincere, and there’s no hypocrisy.”

Chin agreed: “I have so much to learn from them about authentic happiness and being very true to how they feel towards people.”

She added: “I’ve read so much about Pathlight — the amazing work all the teachers have done and the support they give the students is great. I love that social skills and life skills are taught.”

For Koh, who had never met an autistic child, it was an eye-opening experience. “This boy came up to me with a Rubik’s cube and said, ‘Do you believe I can do this in 30 seconds?’ So I messed it up and he did it in 25 seconds. I was blown away.”

Chin said she had been excited by the prospect of giving a motivational talk, but was not sure if she was up to it. “I’ve never done something like this before — I was always on the receiving end. I love going to such talks to learn about what other people faced,” she smiled. “I decided I would share memories about incidents in my life when people said I couldn’t but I could, especially with love and support from friends and family.”

The experience has prompted her to think about what more can be done to help the public understand autism. “Sometimes, we are the ones who do not know enough. Today was a small stepping stone for me in understanding autism. I hope we can do more, in our own capacity, to reach out. I think it’s important that nobody gets left behind and that society improves as a whole.”