Tommy Truong has been working in the Employment Services and Case Management industry since 2017. As a Support Coordinator and a Case Manager, he has been assisting clients in connecting them with mainstream services, implementing and maximising their plan as best as possible, and helping them achieve their goals and improve their quality of life.
In Western Australia, Tommy has also been heavily involved in supporting the Vietnamese disability community. As a Vietnamese disability provider, he is able to provide a deeper understanding of the Vietnamese culture with lesser language/communication barrier, whilst educating them about the NDIS.
Like many Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, most of them might have biases against the NDIS system. Tommy says, “The Vietnamese community’s main barriers are disability bias and knowledge because there is no social support or such services in Vietnam. It may take a while to convince and persuade them to have faith in the NDIS system, connect with Allied Health services and explore the talent of the participants.”
He adds, “Most Vietnamese parents may think that their children are not ‘normal’ or not intellectual enough to be independent. It can affect their ‘pride’ and they think they can easily be exploited by the community, so they would lock up their kids inside the house, refuse to take the children anywhere or won’t motivate the children to build the community independent capacity or network. This makes the parents become the children’s biggest barrier to make their own decision or explore their talent.”
Part of Tommy’s responsibilities is to make sure to meet the families and understand their needs and situations. He also encourages the children to advocate for themselves if they can.
Essentially, he motivates the parents to give their children a chance to be independent and explains to them that NDIS is all about assisting the participant to build their independent capacity.
Similar to the Vietnamese disability community, other CALD communities may also be experiencing the same barriers and challengers. It is essential to have disability providers and educators like Tommy to help build awareness and get the right amount of education about the NDIS.
