SINGAPORE - Joshua Teo was teased and made fun of as a boy.
The other kids would call him alien and Shrek - after the fictional ogre character - and young Joshua would get hurt and upset.
Once, a primary school classmate asked him if his ears looked the way they did because of a car accident. He quietly said no.
The 18-year-old Raffles Institution (RI) graduate has microtia, a birth defect that causes the external part of both ears to be underdeveloped and deformed.
The condition also meant that his hearing was affected and could register only about 40 per cent of all sounds.
The Straits Times
Artist s impression of the Alkaff Breeze’s four- and five-room flats in Bidadari.PHOTO: HDB
https://str.sg/JrrB
They can read the article in full after signing up for a free account.
Share link:
Or share via:
Sign up or log in to read this article in full
Sign up
All done! This article is now fully available for you
Read now
Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month for the first 3 months.
Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month for the first 3 months.
including the ST News Tablet worth $398.
Let s go!
Spin the wheel for ST Read and Win now.
1Q2025
We visited both the sites on a weekday morning. ParkView @ Bidadari was a relatively tranquil area, while Bartley Beacon was a much busier area, as it’s located next to Bartley Road, a major arterial road, where traffic was very heavy.
ParkView @ Bidadari will be facing a future polyclinic and is mainly surrounded by other HDB flats, the upcoming Bidadari Park as well as the Mount Vernon Funeral Parlour Complex, slated to finish in 2024. Alkaff Lake also sits right next to it. Bartley Beacon is surrounded by other high-rise condominiums in the area with a school sitting next to it.