Sarah Vanis

Autism Rewrote My Family Sarah Vanis

Growing up, Sarah was bright, sociable and intelligent. This was a time when only males were diagnosed with autism. No one would have suspected Sarah was also autistic: "It's just developmental," they said. "It's just her personality." Like a cassette tape stuck on repeat, these mantras were said over and over. It wasn't until mid-adulthood that Sarah's autism was finally recognised.

When Sarah was finally diagnosed with autism she realised that her three children, too, were all autistic.



This is a story of repeated misdiagnosis and a lifetime of being misunderstood. A story of sorrow, of hope, and finding a way to stop the same patterns being repeated over and over again. A story of the power of psychology, yoga and Ayurveda. This is a story of being a late diagnosed autistic female and learning to take off the mask and begin to live.