PSSA 2010 - Individual Category Award Winner

Mr Tan Guan Heng

Mr Tan Guan Heng has dedicated over 40 years of his life towards voluntary services.  From 1968 to 1975, he was Chairman of the White Cane Club, the social and recreational arm of the then Singapore Association for the Blind (now known as the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped, or SAVH).  He went on to serve as President of the Association from 1975 to 1980. 

Mr Tan, who became blind at the age of 29, was the first member with a disability to be on the resource panel for the Government Parliamentary Committee for Community Development, and was also a member of the Advisory Council on the Disabled.  In 2006, Mr Tan returned to SAVH as President and has been serving with the Association since then.

Turning his disability into a source of strength, he has made significant contributions to improve the lives of those with visual disabilities.  During his tenure with SAVH, Mr Tan has been instrumental in helping persons with visual impairments to regain their dignity and financial independence through the collaboration with Bizlink Centre in 2008.  Working together, SAVH and Bizlink Centre have helped to improve the lives and productive skills of those with visual impairments through a sheltered employment programme. 

Other initiatives in which Mr Tan played a lead role include the establishment of the SAVH Low Vision Clinic and its library.  This clinic, which handled about 580 cases last year, seeks to prevent blindness through early detection and treatment of eye diseases.  It helps clients with significant vision loss to optimise the use of their remaining vision, and also provides recommendations on special vision devices.  Through the library, clients are able to access even the latest book titles in both audio and Braille forms.  The library loaned out more than 3,400 books and audio periodicals last year.

Being blind has not deterred Mr Tan from pursuing his passion for the literary word. To date, he has published three books, entitled My Love is Blind, Night Butterfly and 100 Inspiring Rafflesians, 1823 to 2003.

Other PSSA 2010 winners: