“When I was a child, my friends used to tease me because I did not have a mother and father. I asked myself why my mother gave birth to me. When I grew up, I thought that my mother had her problems and difficulties that made it impossible for her to raise me. Yet, I still love my mother,” Thuy said. 

Thuy, born in 1997, is a teacher of autistic children at the An Nhien Center for Educational Psychology Application in HCM City.

Every day, Thuy has to move with her knees which requires a lot of exertion. Thuy is still full of confidence, happiness and gives positive energy to people.

Talking about ‘stepping out from the ‘dark zone’, ‘Be Nuoc’, the nickname of Thuy, said: “I was abandoned soon after I came out to the world. Luckily, I was picked up and raised by Tam Binh Center in Thu Duc. When I turned 12 years old, I officially became a member of the Hoa Binh Village, a home for the disabled."

Growing up at Hoa Binh Village, Thuy sometimes found herself special and asked why she was disabled. However, she did not dislike herself.

“As I met a lot of special children, with my appearance, I could easily come closer to them,” Thuy said.

Looking at the contorted legs and the height of just 1.1 meters, which caused so many difficulties every time she goes up or downstairs, few could imagine that Thuy was an excellent student.

In July 2022, she graduated from the HCM City University of Education, which allows her to both work and survive and help autistic children at An Nhien Center.

“Everyone has black and pink parts in his life. The important thing is how you accept them,” she said.

She is also a member of the HCM City University of Education’s Sign Language Club, interpreting sign language at centers for the deaf. Thuy also spends time on forums organized for less fortunate people, programs and newspaper articles which encourage energy of life, with the spirit to constantly rise up against life's adversities.

On her personal Facebook page, in the introduction about herself, Thuy wrote “Beauty begins from the moment you decide to be yourself” and “I love you mom”.

Thuy was once pessimistic. But later, when realizing her own value, she decided that only when she became a teacher would she be able to teach and inspire disabled children.

Luu Dinh Long