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South African mum explains how to raise an Autistic child
New book details their struggles, methods and successes
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By Peter Clark (Senior Editor, Autism Info Center) Thursday 11th December 2025 |
Dorothy Pietersen, a resident of Mitchell's Plain in South Africa, has published a book, The Beauty in Being Different, which chronicles her twenty-year experience raising a neurodiverse son and offers guidance and hope to other families navigating similar paths.
Pietersen has pledged all proceeds to a foundation she established to assist families of children with special needs.
The narrative focuses on her son, Jean, born in 2001 and diagnosed with autism.
Despite his intelligence and university education, Jean encountered significant hurdles in finding employment.
Pietersen highlights the lack of public awareness regarding autism during Jean's childhood, which forced her to self-educate to provide all the support her son needed.
Above all, the book highlights the importance of advocacy, providing a roadmap for people raising neurodiverse children, and emphasizing how she broke through many barriers to secure help for her son.
It's an inspiring message of perseverance and of celebrating the beauty found in difference.
Source: Southern Suburbs Tatler (South Africa)
https://southernsuburbstatler.co.za/news/
Further reading, listening and viewing...
Have you seen our books about Autism and Neurodiversity?
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