SINGAPORE \u2013 When Xavier Ong paddled across Bedok Reservoir with his dragon boat crew on the morning of July 5, his 73-year-old grandmother watched with quiet pride.<\/p>\n
At one time, Mak Kuan Ying could scarcely imagine the 22-year-old, who has autism, taking part in such a team sport.<\/p>\n
As his main caregiver after his parents\u2019 divorce, Mak was familiar with Ong\u2019s tantrums and his need to have his family members always close by.<\/p>\n
But on July 5, he was among 600 attendees at the first Purple Paddle Fest, an inclusive water sports festival for persons with disabilities (PWDs), their caregivers, and the wider public.<\/p>\n
Participants took part in dragon boating, kayaking and pedal-boating with teammates of all backgrounds. It was organised by the People\u2019s Association (PA) and DB Hearts, with the aim of including PWDs in such sports.<\/p>\n (From left) Purple Paddle Fest participants Wesley Neo, Xavier Ong and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Social and Family Development Eric Chua exchanging fist bumps at the Purple Paddle Fest on July 5.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In the lead-up to the festival, PAssion Wave, an entity of PA, held 12 free kayaking and dragon boating tryout sessions at Bedok Reservoir, Jurong Lake Gardens and Sembawang in June.<\/p>\n Over 140 participants learnt basic paddling and water safety skills ahead of the event.<\/p>\n Partner organisations included Runninghour, an inclusive organisation promoting the integration of people with special needs through sports.<\/p>\n It was at Runninghour that Ong, who has been with the organisation for three years, first became more independent, Mak recalled.<\/p>\n Once highly anxious when taking public transport to the point where he would gnaw on his grandmother\u2019s fingers, Ong became more confident travelling to different locations to attend the sessions.<\/p>\n A defining moment was when Ong\u2019s helper lost sight of him in March, but his caregivers saw \u2013 from a tracker that he wears \u2013 that he had made his own way home safely.<\/p>\n \u201cHe took the MRT from Outram Park to Jurong East, then to Choa Chu Kang, followed by a feeder bus back home,\u201d Mak said proudly.<\/p>\n Another paddler on July 5 was Wesley Neo, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and signed up for the dragon boating programme to get out of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n Purple Paddle Fest participant Xavier Ong (centre) and his teammates in action during the dragon boat race on July 5.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The 24-year-old, who was first diagnosed with the condition in primary school, struggled with social matters and interactions with his peers.<\/p>\n Neo, who has been with Runninghour for the past eight years, said: \u201cThe most rewarding part has been seeing how everyone worked together and encouraged one another throughout the training sessions. It was memorable to watch our team improve over time as our paddling became more coordinated and we grew more confident on the water.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery paddler has an important role, and the boat moves best when everyone works together in rhythm and supports one another,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Activities to help PWDs find jobs, such as resume updating and digital literacy workshops, were also available at the event.<\/p>\n Mak commended the efforts by the various organisations and said that she has recommended them to Ong\u2019s friends and other caregivers.<\/p>\n A Purple Paddle Fest participant being helped into the dragon boat for the races at the Purple Paddle Fest on July 5.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cThose with difficulties should especially not be kept in the house. It\u2019s better to be out and experience new activities and challenge themselves and new skills. I used to dread the weekends because I didn\u2019t know how to keep Xavier engaged, but now I\u2019m happy at how much he has grown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 When Xavier Ong paddled across Bedok Reservoir with his dragon boat crew on the morning of July 5, his 73-year-old grandmother watched with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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