“I am sitting in the office on my own and I am thinking I didn’t just learn about autism — I live it, every day, through the people I love most.”
My journey into the autism world didn’t begin with research papers or conferences.
It began in my own home.
I am a parent to two autistic adults my sons Patrick and Angelo, and I am also the wife of an autistic adult.
Because of that, autism isn’t an abstract concept to me, it’s my family.
It’s my daily life, and it’s love.
For years, I watched the people I care about navigate a world that wasn’t built with them in mind.
I saw their strengths and others overlooked.
I saw their challenges and others sometimes being misunderstood.
And I saw so much potential that was blocked, not by their autism, but by barriers, assumptions, and a lack of support.
I have learned quickly that autism is not just one thing.
It’s a whole spectrum of needs, abilities, perspectives, and experiences, even within my own family.
Being a parent has taught me tremendous resilience, advocacy, and the determination to fight for services, understanding, and acceptance. I have discovered strengths I never knew I had.
Being a partner and wife to an autistic adult taught me the beauty and how amazing is my husbands autistic thinking and never ending knowledge . It has also taught me how to be patient and that I also have a voice and my own needs within this family that need to be heard!
Living both roles taught me something else:
There is a painful divide between autistic adults and parents and nobody wins in that divide.
After speaking to hundreds maybe more parents throughout the years they so often feel overwhelmed, unsupported, and desperate for guidance.
Again after speaking to many Autistic adults they often feel unheard, dismissed, or spoken over. Many want the same as everyone else , good education, employment, house, lifetime partner with a little support to help them navigate this complicated world we are living in.
Families need hope.
Autistic adults need respect.
Professionals need clarity.
I realised I stand in the middle and can build a bridge.
So I have tried to be a voice not to speak for autistic people or for families but to speak to both sides with honesty, compassion, and balance.
What is my mission :
To help the autism world to stop choosing sides, and start choosing connection.
I share lived experience from two angles:
I am the parent who wants the best for my children
and the partner who loves and understands an autistic adult from the inside of everyday life.
My message is this:
‘Autistic people deserve respect.
Parents deserve support.
And the two should never be in conflict.’
Autism is part of my family’s story, not something separate from it.
It has shaped how we communicate, how we love, how we grow, and how we show up for each other.’
We still have a long way to go taking it one day at a time ……….
