Born visually impaired, this Singapore mum wanted to be a para athlete. Now, her 21-year-old daughter is one

She does not carry a white cane or wear sunglasses. In fact, you may not be able to tell that 42-year-old Norrizan Nahar is visually impaired.

During the day, she can only see clearly up to a distance of one to two metres. At night, she cannot discern slopes and steps, and avoids going out for fear of a bad fall.

Norrizan was born with congenital cataracts, a rare birth defect where the lens of the eye is cloudy, blocking her vision. As a child, she underwent surgeries to remove her cataracts, and wore thick and heavy glasses with a prescription of more than 1,000 degrees.
 
In 2010, at the age of 28, she had follow-up cataract surgery where artificial lenses were implanted. Three years later, she had a right corneal transplant, where part of her cornea was replaced with tissue from a donor. 

Unfortunately, a year later, she experienced chronic rejection of the transplanted cornea, leaving Norrizan with right-eye vision impairment. She now heavily relies on her left eye to see.

Previously a porter and cleaner, she was unable to continue working. She then became a stay-at-home-mother to her six children, now aged between eight and 23, two of whom have inherited her congenital cataracts.

Because of these experiences, Norrizan can often come across as diffident. But she guards a secret memory with deep pride.

She remembers a time in primary school when she represented Singapore in a friendly para-athlete match in Malaysia and won the gold medal in sprinting.

She longed to compete in bigger arenas. But keeping up with schoolwork became too much of a struggle with her visual impairment. So she gave up her sporting dreams and resigned herself to life.

Many years later, when her visually-impaired daughter Anggun Kasturi fell in love with running and went on to win a silver medal in the 100m event at the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai at the age of 14, something stirred in Norrizan’s heart.

“I felt like I did not complete my journey,” Norrizan reflected. “So I told Anggun to continue my journey and go for her dreams.”

LIVING WITH VISION IMPAIRMENT

Most people do not understand vision impairment. “They think that ‘visually impaired’ means that you are blind. But not all visually impaired people are totally blind,” Anggun pointed out.  

This is the case for the 21-year old and her mother. They suffer from severe vision loss which affects their ability to get around, as well as read, study, work and socialise.

Because public awareness for visual impairment is not high, they are not only rarely offered seats on public transport, sometimes, they are even teased, especially as the glasses they wear are so thick. “Since I was a child, people have said that I am wearing goggles’,” Norrizan said.

Because of these experiences, Norrizan was heartbroken when her second child Anggun and her third child Firman were diagnosed with congenital cataracts as infants.

Like their mother, Anggun and Firman went for eye surgeries when they were months old, and Norrizan had to apply eye drops for her children every two hours and take them to the hospital regularly for follow-up appointments.

As babies, they also had to wear thick and heavy glasses. Danial Bohan, a senior optometrist at the National University Hospital (NUH), where Norrizan and her children are long-time patients, explained that because babies’ eyes are still developing, the spectacles are important. Otherwise, their eyes may not develop and they may end up with total blindness.

Bohan told CNA Women that at least 2.2 billion people globally have vision impairment, and that at least 1 billion of these cases could have been prevented or are yet to be addressed

Norrizan remembers struggling to keep the heavy spectacles with their 1,000-degree prescription on her babies when they were as young as three or four months old. “Anggun kept pushing it off because it was uncomfortable. I had to keep putting it back on,” she recalled.

Strangers openly stared at her as she struggled with her child and baby with ultra-thick glasses.

It was also not easy for Norrizan to keep her children safe during their active growing years. “Once, when my son was young, he was playing in the playground. Because he couldn’t see, he stepped on a woman’s toe. There was a bit of blood.

“I apologised to her and explained that my son has an eye condition. I offered to show her the card to prove it, but she did not accept my apology. She called the police and made a report,” Norrizan recalled, adding that she felt mortified as everyone in the playground stared at her family.

These incidents and other discouraging comments made Norrizan feel increasingly isolated.

Resolved to be self-reliant, she focused on caring for her children to her best ability and supporting them as much as possible.

RELIVING A CHILDHOOD DREAM

So when Anggun started to develop a passion for running in primary school at the age of seven, Norrizan encouraged her. She also decided to send Anggun for para games training.

The training paid off. At the age of 14, Anggun was selected to represent Singapore in the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai.

It was a surreal experience for the young girl who had never travelled before. “The whole family felt so happy and proud of her. My husband told her to make sure she took a photo at Burj Khalifa (a famous skyscraper in Dubai),” Norrizan laughed.

It was an eye-opening experience for Anggun. “I met many people from different countries, including people with different disabilities that I had never encountered before,” she said.

She did not expect to win anything. In fact, after the race, the young girl thought she had lost.

“I cried at night in the hotel room. Then suddenly, I received a call from my coach saying that I won,” she laughed, adding that she later found out that she had won against other athletes in her age category.   

“I got my medal at the podium the next day. It was exciting to hear my Singapore mates clapping for me,” she said with a broad smile.

That year, however, Anggun developed glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye’s optic nerve. Her vision deteriorated further. She can now only see through her right eye, and even with thick spectacles, can only see to a distance of one to two metres.

However, her vision loss did not dim her sporting dreams.

After taking a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, Anggun started training again in 2022, and has been participating in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) track meets where she is currently a business student. These competitions are open to persons with and without disabilities.

Anggun has made it to the finals of some of these competitions but has yet to win any medals. However, she finds great fulfilment in training and competing.

“Sprinting is not about winning. Whether you win or not, you are competing against yourself to improve your timing. It is about discipline, having a positive mindset and never giving up,” she said. 

She added that she hopes to improve her timing and participate in international competitions in future. “I want to prove to the world that even though I am visually impaired, that doesn’t mean I cannot do sports,” she said.

The young woman, who is currently interning at a bouldering gym, also hopes to be a running coach or sports coach after she finishes her studies at ITE.

“My dream is to be a sprinting queen. I believe that everybody has their own talent,” she said.