Singapore — Workers’ Party (WP) politician Gerald Giam helped a blind Aljunied GRC resident get a replacement white cane even though stores were closed during the two-month circuit breaker period that ended earlier this month.
Mr Giam, a former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, is covering veteran MP Low Thia Khiang’s duties in Aljunied GRC as the stalwart recovers from head injuries sustained in a fall in April.
As part of his work in Mr Low’s Bedok Reservoir-Punggol division of Aljunied GRC, Mr Giam has been personally delivering food daily to needy residents there.
In the course of his food delivery rounds, Mr Giam came to find out that a resident needed a replacement for her white cane. He took it upon himself to help the resident get a replacement cane even though he did not know where to begin looking for one.
Mr Giam enlisted the help of a friend who is blind and the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped before sourcing a cane from overseas since local resources were unavailable during the circuit breaker period.
He recounted on Facebook:
“Not knowing much about canes for the blind or where to find them, I consulted my friend who is blind and even called up SAVH (Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped). They were both very helpful. In the end, because SAVH was closed due to the CB, I found a cane online and had it shipped from overseas.”
Mr Giam said that he was relieved to discover that the cane he had ordered was nearly identical to the one the resident had been using. He said the resident’s old cane was worn out to the point that it was difficult for the visually-impaired Singaporean to scan her surroundings.
The WP politician said:
“When I finally delivered it to her, I was so relieved that it is almost identical to her current cane and she is happy with it. ? Apparently she had used her old cane for so long that the rubber tip was worn down until it was conical-shaped, making it difficult for her to scan her surroundings. The tip is supposed to be round!”
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