Then there is Cactus Rose, a band whose seven members have disabilities ranging from intellectual challenges to visual impairment. Mentored by music instructors from Faith Music Centre and funded by disability support agency SG Enable, the band play more than 20 gigs a year for corporate or public events.
Guitarist and lead vocalist Ken Wong, 29, battled depression and failing eyesight due to macular dystrophy and was unable to complete his degree in psychology at the University of Tasmania.
Playing music gave him a new lease of life, as did the chance to mentor more severely disabled musicians in Cactus Rose.
"It gave me confidence," says Wong, who is now an instructor at Faith Music Centre. He is married and has a young daughter.
But disabled artists do not want their disability to be the focus of their art. Events such as the Story Carnival, held on Friday and Saturday at the Enabling Village, aim to change the typical narrative around disability by highlighting unlikely heroes in fictional stories and through the real-life tales or performances of artists with disabilities.
Focus on talent, not disability
Organiser Roger Jenkins, 64, used to be president of the now defunct Hi! Theatre, a group made up of the deaf. He cautions that disability "should not dominate the discussion but inform it" when it comes to professional artists.
Similarly, theatre-maker R. Chandran wants his new troupe, Very Special Theatrics, to be judged on its acting ability and not "pitied" because the performers have physical or cognitive disabilities.
His actors performed a live-action version of Prokofiev's fairy tale for children, Peter And The Wolf, in June for the VCH Organ Series organised by Singapore Symphony Group.
Actor Peter Sau says: "I like the UK model where society is a disabling factor, not that people have disabilities. For example, we rely too much on visual signs or spoken language, which exclude those with sensorial disabilities."
Sau, 41, mentors several emerging artists with disabilities, through Project Tandem, funded by the British Council. The best three will be selected to work on next year's And Suddenly I Disappear... The Singapore 'd' Monologues, a theatre project featuring Meyyappan and playwright Kaite O'Reilly, and director Phillip Zarrilli. O'Reilly is a leading figure in disability art and culture in Britain.
Sau's students include Lim Lee Lee, 50, who is blind and assisted him in directing two plays staged by The Necessary Stage at the Esplanade in March: Haresh Sharma's Don't Know, Don't Care and Don't Forget To Remember Me.
Then there is percussionist Lily Goh, 38, who signs songs rather than sings them and will perform at the Story Carnival this week. She made it to Singapore Idol in 2004, but her musical career was cut short despite media interest because her mother, a cleaner, could not afford the fees for music school.
Goh now runs her own business, ExtraOrdinary Horizons, offering sign-language interpretation, and is doing a degree in sociology through the Singapore University of Social Sciences. She also plays percussion in Purple Symphony, a community orchestra.
An avid arts watcher, she says more arts-makers should consider the needs of people like her in the audience. "There's a little improvement now."
She caught Wild Rice's Grandmother Tongue last year, during a show that featured simultaneous interpretation in Singapore Sign Language. A similar show will be restaged on Oct 14.
She enjoyed the street theatre act Globe by Close-Act Theatre at the recent Singapore Night Festival because of the acrobatics and colourful costumes worn by the performers. With a hearing aid in one ear, she registered the bass beats of the music, but not much else.
It was much better than the year-end party at Sentosa she attended for the first time on New Year's Eve. "It was so boring," she says. "The DJ's music mix had the same bass again and again. My friend interpreted the music for me, but I was like, 'Okay, okay, whatever.'"
Correction note: This story has been edited for clarity.