From an excellent person, at the age of 40 I realized I was autistic.

Nguyen Chung Tue shares his story in the hope that society will become more humane, peaceful, and accepting of diversity - Photo: T.DIEU

In recent performances and talks, people often see the image of Nguyen Chung Tue in a beautiful outfit and a beret that blocks the light, hugging a guitar and singing, then performing magic and telling his story, a strange story, in his strange world .

Nguyen Chung Tue also explained that he always wears a hat because he can't stand the light, sometimes he wears headphones in crowds because he can't stand the noise, and when he talks he doesn't look at the person's face... Those "strange" things are because he is autistic.

Then he slowly led everyone into his story, as a way for him to treat himself, and at the same time hope to help other autistic people. After the talks and sharing, many mothers with autistic children stood up to thank the speaker in tears.

From an outstanding person...

After nearly 25 years of living and working in Australia, quite successfully, Nguyen Chung Tue did not know he was autistic and hyperactive until 2023 when he was 40 years old.

Nguyen Chung Tue was born in Ho Chi Minh City. At the age of 16, he went to Australia to study. In Australia, he continued to study in grades 11-12 at Carey Baptist Grammar School in Victoria. Graduating from high school in the top 3% of the state, Nguyen Chung Tue received a scholarship to study a bachelor's degree in software engineering at Monash University. He continued to achieve excellent results at university, so after graduation he was allowed to stay in Australia.

Seven years as a software engineer, he was promoted at work, became an Australian citizen. But his social relationships were increasingly stunted.

In 2013, he enrolled in a Master of Teaching (Primary) at Deakin University. After graduating two years later, he quit his job as a software engineer and became a teacher at the high school he attended.

Here, he taught gifted classes (classes for children with special needs) and software development. He studied for a master's degreein education at Monash University. During his time teaching at the school, he founded the Magic Maths course and the Integrated Information Technology course for grades 7-10, which won second prize in the Australian Education Competition, curriculum design category.

In 2022, he moved to Haileybury College, teaching software development and algorithms, and serving as head of the school's high school information technology department.

Despite his hard work and success, Nguyen Chung Tue's life consisted of work and no friends. Although he and his wife were very close and supported each other, they divorced after 14 years of marriage.

In his confusion and despair, he met a very special person who advised him to see a doctor for autism. And at the age of 40, he was like "ah, so that's what I am" when the doctor diagnosed him with autism and hyperactivity.

He said autism is a spectrum with many different levels of expression. In Vietnam today, only severe cases are easily detected early. The rest of the people who do not need much support, have good skills, and have special talents like him are mostly not detected early.

Journey of self-healing for yourself and others

Nguyen Chung Tue sings songs he composed to treat himself and inspire the autistic community - Photo: T.DIEU

With a passion for poetry and music , Nguyen Chung Tue writes poems, then sets his poems to music and sings. First, he sings for himself, for those close to him, then goes out and sings for everyone. That is how he heals himself. Because everyone has a need to connect with the community, even autistic people.

Recently, Nguyen Chung Tue spent all four semester breaks in the year returning to Vietnam to perform and interact with people, both to treat himself and to help the autistic community in Vietnam and their relatives who are struggling.

"I use my own experiences to tell a true story - about the path I have been on to destroy the old person and rebuild a new person. At the same time, I feel the need to start conversations with society, to move towards a diverse, flexible and harmonious living environment for all diverse forms of people," said Nguyen Chung Tue.

He hopes that there won't be many people like him, who only found out they were autistic at the age of 40, but will be discovered early so they can know how to protect themselves better, and live according to their "surplus and deficit compared to the normal standard", rather than trying hopelessly to become a "normal" person.

And above all, he hopes that his story will help create a change in social awareness of autistic people so that the whole society can join hands to create a more humane, peaceful, and fair environment for "different" people, so that autistic people can live as themselves, integrate into the community, develop themselves, and contribute to society.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-mot-nguoi-xuat-sac-tuoi-40-moi-biet-minh-tu-ky-20241014091630045.htm