SINGAPORE – For 18-year-old tech enthusiast Isaac Ng, speaking with the engineers who keep Google Maps running and taking photos with a Google Street View car during a visit to the Google Singapore office was a dream come true.
The visit on Feb 25, arranged by Make-A-Wish Singapore, reflected his interest in – and reliance on – technology to help him navigate life and health challenges.
At just five months old, Isaac was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis, a life-threatening condition that involves inflammation of the brain and its protective membranes. Although he recovered from it, he was left with permanent hearing loss and uses hearing aids.
As the condition also resulted in speech delay, he underwent speech therapy and auditory-verbal therapy lessons.
Although Isaac attended a mainstream primary school, he did not start speaking in full sentences until he was 10 years old. Before that, he communicated with others primarily through sending text messages.
“It was difficult to talk to people because I wasn’t able to communicate very well back then, as I could communicate only with simple words and, at best, a short sentence,” he told The Straits Times.
“To overcome this, I used my phone to message and process my thoughts more easily, without having to directly engage with the person face to face.”
When he had to communicate in person, he used simple words and gestures.
When Isaac progressed to secondary school, he faced another health challenge – a mysterious pain in his wrists.
“Initially, I thought that it was a hairline fracture, or a hand cramp, as I had been playing basketball with friends,” he recalled.
