Visually-Impaired Facilitator, National Goalball Athlete

Joan Hung

"I didn't choose to be blind, but I can choose how I want to deal with it."

25 year old Joan is our national Goalball athlete. She is also the team’s top scorer.

She has Aniridia- the absence of the iris- a congenital condition that results in partial blindness. Both her parents are totally blind but that did not stop them from nurturing and supporting Joan and her sister. They improvised with teaching aids to teach them language and math. For example, her mother had friends read out children books so could translate them into braille, before reading to her children. Her father even manage to teach her fractions and algebra by making use of large plastic blocks! It was through him that her love for Math developed.

“I guess my parents intuitively taught me to focus on what I can control instead of what I can’t in order to overcome challenges. Since both of them are blind, that was pretty much what they did to help me learn and grow during my early years. In fact, this is the exact same mindset that you need to succeed in Goalball.”

Unfortunately, Joan had to drop out of university as she was unable to keep up with the pace due to her deteriorating sight. It was largely due to this that her coach, Hansen, decided to develop this experiential programme, Control Your Controllables. Facilitating this program allows Joan to ‘practice what she preach’, help others learn about Resilience and overcoming challenges, as well as earn income. She has been facilitating CYC programs since February 2019, and was invited to Hangzhou, China, to present the program to Chinese educators.

Joan’s Goalball team created history when they won the Silver medal at the ASEAN Para Games 2022! This is the first women’s para team in Singapore that medalled in an international competition.

Joan was one of the recipients for the Goh Chok Tong Enable Awards 2021. Her team also won the Team of the Year (Resilience) during the Singapore Disability Sports Awards 2021.

Joan looks forward to creating a sustainable and inclusive team sport, enjoyed by both visually-impaired persons and sighted.