Golden Threads
What I do while I can walk
Alyssa Chhim-Michelle
Alyssa navigates genetic uncertainty, cultural duty, and her sister's progressive disability while building a different future for herself.
Kintsugi Studio
Golden Threads
Alyssa Chhim-Michelle
Alyssa navigates genetic uncertainty, cultural duty, and her sister's progressive disability while building a different future for herself.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Alyssa Chhim-Michelle grew up in Southeast Melbourne as the youngest in a Cambodian Australian family shaped by her parents' escape from the genocide. While her older sisters lived under strict Cambodian rules, Alyssa and her brother experienced a more Australian household, though one value remained non-negotiable: duty to family. That duty intensified in high school when her father was diagnosed with spinocerebellar ataxia, a genetic condition affecting movement and coordination. Months later, her sister received the same diagnosis. When Alyssa was old enough to consider genetic testing, the weight of a 50 percent chance of inheriting the mutation felt like an impossible burden to disclose to a potential partner. She waited until she found someone willing to stand by her regardless of the result. Receiving her negative test result while preparing for her wedding in Istanbul brought relief, but seeing her sister's grief at being the only one with the condition shifted that joy into guilt.
Before her disability progressed, Alyssa's sister gave her a gift: a trip through Southeast Asia, paid for entirely, knowing mobility would become harder. That last journey together while her sister could still walk became golden. The disability has changed everything. Alyssa witnessed how quickly danger can strike when her sister's involuntary movements sent her face-first onto concrete while Alyssa was pushing her wheelchair. She has learned that people with disabilities at social gatherings often sit alone not because they cannot participate, but because others assume communication is too hard and do not try.
Today, Alyssa is an NDIS Plan nominee managing her father's care while pursuing a PhD researching workplace support for neurodivergent young adults. She works at a cemetery, a job that keeps her grounded about what matters. Shaped by her family's circumstances and her sister's generosity, she has made a conscious choice: to do differently. What will she do while she can walk? That question guides her now.
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