“Get real. You're a mother now. Your child needs you. And you want to go away to work?” “Arre, what are you trying to prove? Your son is autistic. This much wil…
“No,” says the surgeon. “I won't operate now. See me after two months.” I smile immediately. There is energy in my voice, a spring in my step as I say, “Thank y…
The doctors are holding Krishna's hand down so they can inject him with anaesthesia. “Vendama!” I don't want it. He fights ferociously, but at the prick of the …
There are moments when I just want to jump into my car and drive away. Just, away. All by myself. There are moments when my husband and I remember our double-in…
Buildings and trees whizz past. 110 kmph. I'm skimming the speed limit on the expressway. The concrete hypnotizes with mirages that gleam when the sun appears. …
The Invisible Weight of Autism Caregiving About four or five years ago, I was on the phone with Krishna’s psychiatrist. I remember I was walking around the gard…
When “enough” becomes an impossible question—and how to ask what is needed now Am I doing enough? It is such a familiar question in autism parenting that we can…
It was a dark and stormy night! Krishna was about two years old. He was thrilled by the storm and his father was holding him in front of the bedroom window. The…
“Did he get down at all today?” It was about 7 in the evening. My husband had just gotten back home from work. I had been pacing up and down our terrace for hou…
Invisible cognitive load. Chronic vigilance. Decision fatigue. Uncertainty. All wonderful, accurate terms. What do they mean? I shoot upright in an instant. Fro…
“Krishna is on the autism spectrum,” the doctor said. The words hit me like a freight train. Once I got over the shock, I assumed that a year or two of therapy …
We were washing poop sheets for the nth time that night. It was around two in the morning. Exhausted, my husband looked at me. His gaze softened for a moment. “…
