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For all the awareness raised over the past decade, our understanding of autism is still influenced by outdated beliefs.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.

I hardly knew my father, being too young to remember most of my time with him. You would think that photos of him would feel like a treasure trove, but instead, they are just images of faces and places without context.

What is the value in holding onto them without the stories that breathe life into those frozen moments?

Drawing a line in the sand is about reclaiming safety when a relationship becomes dangerous or emotionally draining. It’s about acknowledging that love doesn’t always look like proximity, especially when that proximity allows harm to continue.

Often, without warning, I would come under attack out of nowhere for another person’s grief, hurt, shame, and guilt. Their emotions would be directed at me, as if I was the source of their pain. But one day, something shifted in my understanding. I felt the need to draw a line in the sand, to say, “This is not mine to carry anymore.”