Many parents will turn to online blogs for parenting stories, tips and advice. The parenting blogging community can be a real safe haven for people who want to find comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone in their questions and struggles.
Alicia Trautwein is an autistic mother of four children, three of whom have autism. Her unique story resonates with many in the autistic community, and she has her own blog, The Mom Kind, where she writes honest articles with specialist advice.
Having lived with the condition herself, it has helped greatly in raising her own autistic children with empathy and heightened understanding, allowing her to pass on lessons to the wider parenting community.
As an autism advocate, writer, and motivational speaker, Alicia’s life mission is to educate on autism acceptance and change the world for future generations of autistic individuals. Autism is something that’s still shrouded in a lot of mystery for people who don’t fully understand it and how it can affect people differently. But Alicia shares a message of love and compassion in everything she writes.
She says: “Your child is the same person before the autism diagnosis as they are after the diagnosis. Your actions and lifestyles may change, but your love for them never will.”
Her blog provides extensive articles and a variety of content covering things like ADHD, anxiety, autism, special needs and sleep disorders. From parenting children with ADHD during Covid-19, to lowering your child’s anxiety about having a vaccine, Alicia publishes regular content that covers just about everything and anything a parent with a special needs child would need guidance on.
For parents who may suddenly find themselves of their depth after an autism diagnosis, Alicia reminds them that this is a time where they need support as much as the children. “Going through an autism diagnosis brings so many emotions, both bad and good,” she says. “This is a time to lean on your support system, work through those emotions, and find the resources that will help your child thrive.”
There really isn’t a topic that Alicia doesn’t cover on the site, and crucially it answers questions on topics that many people would be left in the dark about if it were not for the honesty and authenticity that characterizes her writing.
When it comes to disabilities and special needs, inclusivity and representation is absolutely essential to making other people understand. Moreover, it’s crucial that the people who live with these challenges have access to resources that will help them. Alicia has an incredibly unique insight as a mother with autism who parents autistic children, and she makes sure to pass on every lesson she learns to other people in the same boat as her.