The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Book casts a new light on Aspergers
BLENNERVILLE MOTHER PENS INSPIRATIONAL BOOK ON DAUGHTER’S ASPERGERS JOURNEY
A BLENNERVILLE mother is hoping that her new book entitled ‘Asperger’s; Our Way of Life: An Amazing Adventure’ in which she talks about the struggles of having a young daughter with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and the journey she went on to understand her daughters condition, can help other parents in the same situation.
Margaret Dillane, who lived in Blennerville for 19 years before moving to London, admits that her “whole world was turned upside down” when her daughter Yasmine was diagnosed with Asperger’s aged seven.
She struggled with anxiety before ultimately making the decision to find out as much as she could about the condition so that she could understand her daughter better.
“Asperger’s is a social communication disorder, someone with the condition would find it very difficult to communicate socially; they can’t read the cues of normal social communication like body language and conversational cues so all of this has a knock on effect into the person’s life,” she continued.
“I always knew that there was something happening with regards to how she was with other people and I knew that there was something different about her but I kept saying that she’ll grow out of this behaviour,” said Margaret, talking to The Kerryman.
“When we got the diagnosis, it was a double-edged sword. In one way, I was delighted as it put everything into perspective; I thought she was just being rude when she answered someone logically or when she pointed out if someone looked weird, she just didn’t understand that you’re not supposed to do that,”
“One of the heart-breaking things was when I would bring Yasmine to parties and she would push people or hurt people because she was having a sensory overload and she was going through a meltdown,”
“I was forever going around telling people how sorry I was for her behaviour because I didn’t understand why she was doing this,” she added.
She has described it as the “story of my daughter and I and our journey through Asperger’s; I wanted other people to experience our journey and I wanted to show anybody else who might be in the same position that there is so much to be gained by understanding the condition”.
“The result of the book is that Yasmine was able to learn and know how to behave around other people, it’s been wonderful to see the change in her,”
“It wasn’t about me trying to fit her into what I believed was ‘normal’ society which I know now to be ridiculous, there’s no such thing as normality, I wasn’t going to be able to ‘fix her autism’, I needed to understand her thinking and her behaviour, that way we could work toward progress,”
“If someone can get a lesson from my book, that they’re not alone in having children with Asperger’s, that it’s not a condition, it’s a way of life and that they have nothing to fear from it, I’d be very happy,” she finished.
Margaret’s book is available on Amazon for £5.99 by searching ‘Asperger’s; Our Way of Life: An Amazing Adventure’ or by the link on our Kerryman Facebook page.