Having once come close to losing his voice forever, Mr Samuel Lim, 20, now aspires to be a speech therapist.
When he was three months old, his upper airway and upper gastrointestinal tract were permanently damaged when a former maid poured sulphuric acid down his throat.
Samuel was among four students who received the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities.
He is reading Linguistics and Multilingual Studies as a second-year student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
He was motivated to take the course while struggling to regain his speech after a complication during a minor nasal cavity surgery in 2017 threatened to take away his voice.
He was also inspired by his junior college linguistics tutor, whom shared how language can reinforce discrimination against people with disabilities.
The other recipients were Ms Foo Xu Hui, 23, a third-year student at NTU studying Biological Science; Mr Toh Wei Soong, 21, a first-year student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics; and Mr Daniel Liew, 21, a third-year statistics and business analytics student at NUS.
Wei Soong has transverse myelitis, a condition caused by the inflammation of the spinal cord, which affects his lower nervous system.
Daniel has autism.
As for Xu Hui, she is paralysed from the waist down, after slipping and falling on her back when she was 17.
Since August 2019, she has been volunteering with a student organisation to promote integration and inclusion in her school community.
A dancer and gymnast when she was younger, she hopes to be able to perform again despite being in a wheelchair. She watches dance videos to learn choreography, and is learning to sing.
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Source: The Straits Times, 9 October 2019