Eugene Cheong - A person with disability helping people with disability

In 2011 Eugene P. Cheong went for a jog after work and never returned home. A blood vessel ruptured in his brain whilst jogging. He had a stroke, and collapsed into coma that lasted close to 3 weeks. During his time in the hospital and rehabilitation, he learnt that the stroke affected the entire right side of his body. This meant that he could no longer draw or operate machinery, which was crucial to his pre-stroke job as an industrial designer. Centrelink offered him employment, now as a person with a disability (PwD). The best job they could was a data inputting job.

Frustrated, he believed that all PwD were capable of so much more when it came to employment, so he started an initiative called Chemism. It was designed to promote self-employment for PwD, rather than receiving menial jobs like data inputting & stacking boxes. The aim of Chemism was to improve the mental health of PwD through more meaningful self-employment. However, this initiative relied on the donation of time and skills from other professionals, to help PwD achieve self-employment. Unfortunately, COVID-19 got in the way and didn't allow Chemism to ‘work’.

During this time, Eugene was approved for NDIS funding. He shelved the idea of Chemism, and decided to use this newfound NDIS funding to improve his own health by engaging a neuro physiotherapist, occupational therapist, neuropsychologist, clinical psychologist and exercise physiologist. One day his OT casually asked him to design an assistive product for one of her other clients with paraplegia, to help him eat. He saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community, using what he learnt in his previous job as an industrial designer at Freedom Furniture . He revived Chemism, but changed the vision of it - It now specialises in designing bespoke assistive product solutions, using a co-design methodology, which involves input from a variety of professionals in the design process. Ranging from the PwD, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, industrial designers, engineers, prototype workshops and much, much more.