And maybe that is the hardest part to understand how do you carry something that was never yours to carry?

How do you hold the weight of another person’s choices, another person’s actions, another person’s silence… and somehow make it your responsibility to protect it?

It was something far deeper.

The man in mediation represented something I had fought before.

I woke with a deeper appreciation for something I already hold strongly:

Working with someone's inner world is a privilege. It should never be approached lightly.

Over time, I noticed that resistance to “labels” didn’t usually come from those who were actually neurodivergent. It came more often from people uncomfortable with difference, or those who hadn’t yet explored their own biases or internal stories. There’s a deeper discomfort in society with vulnerability and labels often make things visible that we’re taught to hide.

For all the awareness raised over the past decade, our understanding of autism is still influenced by outdated beliefs. Once associated primarily with profound developmental disabilities, autism is now recognised as a broad spectrum of experiences. As our knowledge evolves, perhaps it's time to ask a deeper question: Is the label itself still serving us, or is it limiting how we understand the person behind it?

When your child receives an autism diagnosis, the focus quickly shifts to therapies, appointments, and support plans but who supports the caregiver? Without space to process fear, grief, and uncertainty, many parents lose themselves in the relentless cycle of doing more, giving more, and sacrificing more. What if healing begins by caring for yourself, too?

My mother’s shame, guilt, and need for self-protection had overshadowed us, making her children scapegoats while she deflected blame.

I thought that when she passed, I might finally be able to breathe. The idea of no longer carrying the guilt and shame felt like it might bring some relief. But not even a week after her burial, I find myself caught in a whirlwind of drama and stress, all stemming from the legacy of her choices.