Keisha's Story

May 3, 2012
By Keisha

I am the mother of Ibrahim. Ibrahim is the third of my four children. He was diagnosed with autism at 2-and-a-half years old. I must admit that, although I knew that he did not reach his milestones, and I agreed to have him engage in early intervention, I never thought it would go further than that. I couldn't bear to hear that something deeper was wrong with him. I reluctantly agreed to have a psychological evaluation, and received the dreaded news:  I am sorry to say, that your son has autism.

 My heart sunk as I knew it would. I became a little depressed and unsure of myself as a mother, many questions raced through my head: what will become of him, what kind of life he will have, how will people treat him, etc.?  My husband and I decided to have a family meeting and we discussed what this diagnosis meant to the family, and how we could best help Ibrahim throughout his journey.  I started looking for information about autism on the Internet since his doctor and daycare had no real information to share. Eventually, I became active and realized that I had to find the strength to advocate for him to ensure his access to the resources he needs. As a constituent of the Bronxville, East NY community in Brooklyn, it saddened my heart at the lack of viable resources available. As parents, we felt alone.

Unfortunately, things in terms of access to help have not changed much. But as I help my son along this journey, I hope to help others by raising awareness in my community while steering parents away from cultural biases and the stigma associated with having a special needs child.