Regional Center of Orange County Appoints Autism Advocate Chinh Tuong Nguyen to Board of Directors

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Oct 28, 2020, 14:03 ET

SANTA ANA, Calif., Oct. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC) has appointed Chinh Tuong Nguyen of Fountain Valley to serve a one-year term on its unpaid volunteer board. The parent of a son with autism, Nguyen was previously a news reporter with a leading Vietnamese-language newspaper, Nguoi-Viet Daily News in Westminster. She received her bachelor of arts degree in communications from California State University Fullerton and her Master's in organizational leadership from Vanguard University.

Born in Saigon, Nguyen was orphaned at age 4 and later found passage to the U.S. as an international student. She has worked in the international student division at Santa Ana College and has more than a decade of experience in community building, running her own tutoring center, and helping to handle grassroots outreach for Vietnamese American political campaigns and the U.S. Census Bureau.

An autism advocate for the Vietnamese and other communities, she wants to help other Orange County parents access the RCOC services and supports available to help children with developmental disabilities realize their full potential. To help her own daughter cope with the frustrations of having a younger brother with autism, Nguyen encouraged her to write about her feelings. The children's book that resulted from those essays, I Love My Autistic Brother, Patrick!, is available in English and Vietnamese. It aims to help other children understand that autism isn't bad, it's just different.

About Regional Center of Orange County

Regional Center of Orange County is one of 21 private, nonprofit organizations contracted by the State of California to coordinate lifelong services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The Regional Center is the first stop for those seeking to obtain local services and supports to help them live safely and with dignity in the community. RCOC serves more than 22,000 Orange County residents with developmental disabilities and their families. Developmental disabilities include autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disabilities.

SOURCE Regional Center of Orange County