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Visually impaired teen defies odds to pass Maths, Science subjects in A-Levels

SINGAPORE — As a visually-handicapped student, he was told that was he was better off studying arts and humanities subjects, instead of the sciences, although they are his passion.

Tampines JC student Eugene Ng with the tools he uses to help him in school, such as a computer device with a Braille keyboard, a talking graphing calculator and an embosser that can print lecture notes in Braille. Eugene requires a powerful magnifying glass or Braille to read. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY

Tampines JC student Eugene Ng with the tools he uses to help him in school, such as a computer device with a Braille keyboard, a talking graphing calculator and an embosser that can print lecture notes in Braille. Eugene requires a powerful magnifying glass or Braille to read. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY

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SINGAPORE — As a visually-handicapped student, he was told that was he was better off studying arts and humanities subjects, instead of the sciences, although they are his passion.

“I was told that visually-handicapped students usually don’t do well in science or maths subjects because diagrams are trickier for us,” said Tampines Junior College graduate Eugene Ng. “They would start saying mean things like ‘You won’t be able to do it’, or ‘It will be very tough’, and they doubt your ability.”

But the 18-year-old persisted, turning negativity around on its head and taking science and maths subjects not just at the upper secondary level, but also in junior college. He received his A-Level results on Friday (Feb 24), passing all his subjects — chemistry, physics, mathematics and economics — and hopes to study either mathematics or economics in university.

Eugene was diagnosed at six months with leber congenital amaurosis, an eye disorder characterised by severe vision loss at birth. He requires a powerful magnifying glass, or a Braille reader to read.

He attended Lighthouse School, a special institution for the visually handicapped, during his primary school years, then Bedok South Secondary School, a mainstream school with the resources to support students with visual handicaps.

It was only when he entered Tampines Junior College that he felt thrown into the deep end. On his first day of school, Eugene felt “totally lost”, not just because of the new, larger physical environment which required some getting used to, but also due to the unfamiliarity. “Back then, I was quite scared also because there was uncertainty about how the school would be helping me at that point,” he said.

Interactions with schoolmates also started out awkwardly, said Eugene, with many of his peers unsure of how to approach him. But he is thankful that two years later, he has a group of close friends who would “help me whenever they can”.

For Eugene, science and maths subjects were indeed trickier to learn, because of the diagrams, graphs and formulae that were sometimes more difficult to translate into Braille.

“You need to feel your way through some of the trickier diagrams. It is a bit more difficult, but you just need more time,” he said, noting that the pace in junior college was “much faster”.

To catch up on school work, he would sacrifice some rest time, as well as leisure time spent exercising or going out with friends.

He also credited his teachers with going the extra mile to help him. The school held extra one-to-one consultation sessions with his tutors each school day, to get him up to speed.

Some of his teachers, such as his Chemistry tutor Mr James Wong, also took it upon themselves to devise solutions to help him. Mr Wong used a cloth cutter to create little grooves on the outlines of some of the diagrams and structures, to let Eugene feel them, allowing him to understand the lesson.

“If not for them, there is no way I would be able to go so far and complete my two years in junior college.”

But he was also a source of inspiration to those who taught him. Noting that he was “very motivated and driven”, Mr Wong called Eugene “the kind of student every teacher wants to have”.

“His tenacity is very encouraging to me personally. As a teacher … even though (we) do a lot for him, I feel personally that he has given us (the) motivation to work harder … (and) reminds me of what a teacher should be like, that no matter what the student’s current situation is, if they are willing to learn, we should do our best to teach,” Mr Wong said.

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