30/08/2022
Welcome to Disability Support Your Way
My name is Jenni and I'm a mum of two gorgeous little superheroes. O is 13 and L is 10. My husband is Scott.
When L was born, we knew from the very start that he was a different baby. He was completely different from O and also from other babies that we met at playgroup. We knew that he was different, but didn't exactly know what the difference was. We did question whether he could be Autistic and was told that no, "he's just a naughty boy, he's being a typical boy, it was our parenting style, he's just slow because he has an older sister who does everything for him ...." and many other reasons. None of which made us as parents feel good about ourselves.
L was non verbal until the age of three. At three, he spoke a grand total of roughly 20 words. At three years of age, I took him back to our GP and was in tears because L was having a meltdown and I couldn't help him. L was having a meltdown over not being allowed to play on the busy road outside the surgery. Our GP referred us to our pediatrician and he agreed that L was different and gave a provisional ASD diagnosis. We received his official diagnosis of a DSM V level 2 ASD In 2016, L was three and a half.
Thus began our Autism journey.
While going through L's ASD assessment, Scott recognized a lot of L's traits in himself so off he went to be assessed and low and behold, Scott was given an ADHD diagnosis.
O at this stage was 7. As a baby, O reached all her developmental milestones early. We knew that she was academically gifted but we didn't suspect that she was on the spectrum. She was, and still is, a very anxious child. After L's diagnosis, we began to see some ASD traits in O and each time we questioned as to whether O was also on the spectrum, we were told that she couldn't possibly be because she's social and makes eye contact.
We were however referred to a child psychologist for her anxiety because we were struggling to help her manage her anxiety. During her second session, her psychologist said "you need to get O assessed, she's definitely on the spectrum."
So off we went on the assessment path again. Low and behold, six months later O was given a DSM V level 2 ASD diagnosis! We were expecting the diagnosis as all the way through her assessment, the speech therapist and psychologist told us that yes O is on the spectrum. Her DSM V level floored us as we'd missed all her traits. O was and still is a master at masking her ASD traits.
During O's ASD assessment I realized that I could have been answering the questions about myself. O is my mini-me. I broached the subject several times with the professionals who were doing her assessment and was told "I can spot an Aspie a mile away!"
As well being Autistic, both O and L have sensory processing difficulties, anxiety (O was recently diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder,) L has since been diagnosed as ADHD and a myriad of other health conditions.
I am Autistic, I also have sensory processing difficulties and I have PTSD.
We truly are the acronym family.
In 2016 I began Raising My Little Superheroesand my blog as a means of clearing my thoughts, writing for me is my therapy, but also to spread a little Autism awareness and acceptance. We struggled to find support when we first began on this journey and I wanted to let other families and individuals know that support is out there. I don't want to see children, or adults, being left behind because they're different or quirky or don't fit into the mould that they're expected to fit into.
I began Disability Support Your Way this year after being asked advice on everything from the NDIS, to accessing support providers to questions about our Assistance Dogs – we have two! Disability Support Your Way is exactly what the name sounds like – support your way.
If you've read this far, thank you for joining us on our journey. It can be crazy, fun filled, coffee injected ride, but it's our life and I wouldn't change anything for the world.
So now it's your turn, what is your connection to Disability?
