Why we founded Aurora Lumina

Nobody told us where to begin. So we began.

About ten years ago, when our son was around eighteen months old, we started noticing signs that his development was not going the way we expected.

Our family doctor kept assuring us that everything was fine. But we insisted and got a referral to a specialist. There they did the M-CHAT screening, and the result showed a medium likelihood of autism.

The first days were shock and disbelief. I remember the nights I sat in front of the screen searching for everything I could find, when really I was looking for an answer to just one question: will our child be okay?

Until then, autism was just a word to me. A word I had heard, but never had to understand. I did not know what it looked like, how you live with it, what it means for a child and for a family. Suddenly that word became part of our life, and I had no direction at all. Only questions, and a little child who looked at me and counted on me.

There was no map. So we started drawing one.

Ten years ago the internet existed, but the information was not in one place. We learned from Facebook groups, forums and the experiences of other parents. We had to find every direction ourselves.

No one around us had a child with autism. People did not know how to react, and for many it was easier to step away than to stay. The road was hard and expensive. But we were not alone: there were two of us.

Honestly, at first I was in complete denial. I thought the assessment was a mistake. It was my husband who insisted that we take that road. I told myself: it will not hurt him, it can only help. It turned out he was right. We started early, and today I can see how much that meant.

When one of us falls, the other lifts them up. That is how we drew the map, step by step, parent to parent.

We were where you are now.

If today you heard your first “this should be checked”, I want you to know: fear is fear, and shock is shock. No one expects this. In that moment, everything you have carried inside since the day you first held your child crumbles: the plans, the dreams, the picture of the future. And that is okay. You have the right to grieve.

Give yourself 24 hours. To cry, to be angry, to not believe it. Then get up and begin. Not because it is easy, but because every day matters. The sooner you begin, the more doors open for your child. Every new skill, every new word, every look that was not there before is a small step towards a world where they, too, have their place. I saw this with our son. That is why I know it is worth it.

And one more thing I learned: development is not a straight line. There will be ups and downs. A regression is not the end. Every small improvement is worth celebrating.

We are building what we were missing.

If you ask me what helped us most over all these years, the answer is simple: other parents. We live in a system where good people and good services exist, but they are hard to reach. Much of what helped our son we learned in a conversation with another parent.

That is why my husband and I founded Aurora Lumina, and why we are building it around three things:

• Community: a place where families connect and are not alone.
• Advice: practical, from experience, for the questions we all have.
• Workshops: where children learn skills for everyday life. The first one is already in preparation.

Because our children can do far more than the world expects of them. They just need a chance.

— The founder of Aurora Lumina, parent of a child on the spectrum