On a busy day at a small disability services office in Sydney’s west, 22-year-old Rita Nichola is answering phones.
Rita is a volunteer who migrated from Syria and has a disability.
“Tender Loving Care Disability Services (TLC) is my second family because I feel safe here," she says.
"They give me support, to feel like I'm improving myself."
Gaining work skills is a source of pride for Rita who has spina bifida, a type of neural tube defect that affects the spine.
Rita’s movement is limited and she uses a wheelchair. As a child she was also diagnosed with moderate intellectual disability.
Rita Nichola grew up in Syria. Source: Supplied / Rita Nichola
“ I was nine years old when I left the school. I stopped school because there was no support," she says.
“I didn't do anything. I just stayed at home with mum and dad.
“So, I don't know how to write and read Arabic. It's so hard for me to learn now. I was also feeling so scared and I was feeling so sad because my life, it was not good over there.
“It upset me because my brother and sister, they went to school and I didn't go to school. And I see other kids going to school, but they did not accept me.
“Why? What was wrong? It's not my fault. What did I do wrong to not accept me to not go to school.”
These days, Rita is proud to volunteer in customer care at TLC, and values the supportive work environment.
Rita Nichola working at TLC in Sydney. Source: SBS / Spencer Austad
“ TLC teaches me to have contact with people, and that is changing my life to make it better.”
TLC is a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) certified service that was founded in 2017 by Yasser Zaki who migrated from Egypt.
“TLC is not about profit, it's about helping families to come out of tough situations whether they are refugees or others who are struggling.
“And we offer a broad range of disability in-home support services, from accommodation to employment.”
Yasser Zaki at work in Sydney. Source: SBS / Spencer Austad
“We provide services across Australia. We started with the east coast of Australia: Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. And part of our expansion plan is to go to Canberra, Adelaide and then Perth.
Mr Zaki plans to open a school for people with autism in Australia, and also in his home country of Egypt, following the launch of a similar venture last year in Dubai.
“Dubai is an open market for businesses from all over the world," he says.
"So it was easy to actually start the model in Dubai, blending a United States schooling system with TLC disability experience and then launching there as a testing model,” he says.
TLC already operates in eight countries including Dubai and Australia. Others include UK, USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Phiippines.
The former sales manager with a degree in engineering migrated from Egypt in 2004, and says his move into disability services followed a chance meeting with a passenger on a train.
“I was married with young children but living in Australia without my extended family, I also felt a bit lonely,” he says.
“One day, I saw an elderly woman on the train crying and I asked her if everything was all right. And then she just opened up, talking and telling me her story and it was quite a sad story.
“As we continued conversing, she reached her destination and she had a little bit of shopping and I just offered to carry her bags?”
The woman’s name was Margaret and they formed a friendship that day that would last for many years.
“I kept visiting Margaret every Saturday for about four or five hours, and we did a little bit of shopping, shared a little bit of food, and that was the highlight of my week actually.
“When she passed I realised that Margaret had been helping me and visiting her gave me a purpose, and a sense of family. And I really, really started missing that a lot.
“And I realised that by helping someone else we also help ourselves. And that led to a whole career shift. I thought: 'If helping people feels that good, I should do more of it'. And that's when I started working in disability services.”
The NDIS supports Rita with transport and personal care. Source: Supplied / Laura Cowell / TLC Disability Services.
“A support worker takes me out wherever I need, to visit my friend, or if I need to go to the park, or the beach.
“And they help me to support myself at home and they teach me how to draw, how to write, to learn English,” Rita says.
“Because when I came here, I could not speak English and now my English is starting to improve.”
Rita is not alone. Many migrants with disability and limited English skills face challenges finding work and access remains an issue.
Laura Cowell, TLC Australia CEO. Source: SBS / Spencer Austad
“And so Rita's story is one of millions, and it makes me quite angry and disappointed that we aren't doing more.”
In Australia, people with disability are twice as likely to be unemployed (10 per cent) compared with those without disability (5 per cent), according to federal government data (2022).
To help change that, TLC runs a social enterprise café at its Bankstown office that employs and trains people with disability.
“The cafe is a really great initiative. It's something we're so proud of here.
“Our staff have gone through a 12-week skills program. They've got their barista training certificate and they love working in the cafe.
The TLC cafe in Sydney's Bankstown. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
“At TLC we also pay award wages or above. We employ people with a disability not just in our cafe, but also in our executive team, working in various departments, and in service delivery.”
It's a people-centred approach that has earned TLC several recent awards, including the Australian Disability Service Conference and Awards naming Mr Zaki as CEO of the Year in 2023.
“I want to make sure that we are creating a positive impact in the world and these awards are recognition and gives credibility to the work we do, which hopefully others will see and then follow the same footsteps."
Rita Nichola receives support funded by the NDIS. Source: SBS / Spencer Austad
“I would like to work in a paid role here, at TLC.
“And I would like to help other people to reach their goals, as I am”.
