As Women’s Month comes to an end, we close it off with autism activist and mother Shoneez Ganie from Kensington.
Her journey of creating awareness and educating people about autism was inspired by her son when he was diagnosed with autism.
When Shoneez discovered she was pregnant, she was excited and looked forward to being a mother.
“I always wanted to be a mother. I had this dream of raising children and sharing adventures with them,” said Shoneez.
She said the excitement soon ended when her pregnancy had complications.
She was pregnant with twins and had no idea as the doctors could not pick it up in the scan.
“I went into early labour. The first twin died at four months gestation. I had an emergency caesarean section for my son Yazdaan at 34 weeks.”
This was the beginning of many challenges Shoneez would face on the journey of raising her son.
“Yazdaan had numerous hospital visits growing up and was diagnosed with epilepsy at two years old. He was treated for it until he was four years old. At five, he was diagnosed with asthma and at six he had pneumonia and his right upper lung collapsed,” said Shoneez.
“I knew there was still something which did not fit right with Yazdaan. He struggled to express himself. His sleeping routine was problematic.”
She said her son needed assistance with dressing and undressing, was a fussy eater and needed assistance using the toilet.
“He had temper tantrums and sensory difficulties and was hypersensitive to smells. There were a number of red flags about his development,” said Shoneez.
She took him to a developmental paediatrician and assessments were done.
They also met with a speech therapist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist.
“After all the tests were done, the doctor explained to us he has autistic spectrum disorder. At that moment I was confused and devastated because I did not know what autism was,” said Shoneez.
He was six years old at the time.
“Each day brought new struggles and anxiety sometimes manifested into panic attacks. I reached a a point of realising I cannot change my son,” said Shoneez. A journey of rediscovering her son started.
“I spent many nights researching autism and attended classes for parents at Autism South Africa. I accepted the fact that Yazdaan needed medication so he could cope with everything happening to him,” said Shoneez.
“Knowledge was like magic and my journey to shine a light on autism started.”
Her son is now nine years old and in Grade Three at School of Achievement.
“My son’s name means ‘gift of Angels’ and he has been a gift to me. He has encouraged me not to be afraid, to educate others and he brings joy to me and the whole family,” said Shoneez.
She said by creating awareness she wants to inspire parents of special needs children to never give up.
She advised parents to include their other children as they form part of the journey.
“As mothers, we can easily get caught up by one child who needs extra help or has special needs. Remember, it hurts them to see their sibling going through pain and suffering. Explain to them they were placed in this situation because they are able to comfort and love their sibling,” said Shoneez.
