Freya O’Horo is a Mayo native studying Social Care and Practice in Athlone Institute of Technology: Autism Siblings Ireland. Her younger brother Dian, is five years old and received an autism diagnosis at the age of five. “We knew something was up pretty quickly,” Freya remarks “he kept to himself quite a lot and had delayed communication.” Upon Dian’s diagnosis, Freya was struck by a lack of resources for siblings of autistic children. This information gap led to the creation of Freya’s Autism Sibling blog. “It started when I was 16 as a school project, but I haven’t been able to let go since! I’ve found it really helpful for connecting with other people.”

Autism Siblings is a blog spreading information on autism supports and resources from the point of view of her experience as a sister. It served as a platform for Freya to connect with other siblings. Topics range from interviews with Occupational Therapists about their professions to discussions with autistic adults. Freya keeps any work with services restricted to those she an Dian have personal experience of. For instance, one of her pieces covers equine therapy in Mayo. Freya also worked with Sensory Clothing.ie who educated her on sensory friendly clothing options. “I want information to be true and genuine and to have worked for Dian.”

Dian is currently 11 and attends St. Dympna’s School in Ballina. (Freya completed her work experience there.) He receives occupational therapy along with speech and language therapy. He is extremely skilled with both computers and languages and enjoys being outdoors and physical activity. “He’s verbal now and he loves the chat. He’s also very funny and loves playing pranks. He’ll sometimes switch to another language while talking to us. We’ll say ‘we can’t speak Russian, Dian’ and he’ll speak in Russian slower and more sarcastically.” At present, Dian can speak Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Russian. Freya admits, however, that this could change next time she returns from college.

Dian’s skill with computers has a number of applications. He largely learns through computer use. He also has a good memory for passwords. Unfortunately for his teachers, this means Dian can always override any internet barriers if he’s in the mood for Youtube.

Dian’s stims were the inspiration for Freya’s chewable jewellery. “He bites his arm a lot when excited. I hought it might be safer if he had something else to chew.” Despite wanting to help Dian, Freya noticed sensory equipment tends to be very expensive. The result of her efforts were necklaces with soft chewy material to enable an easy, safe stim. “After a bit of searching I found brilliant brands that kept the prices low for me. Dian wears a bunch of them: he thinks he’s a little gangster with them around his neck!” Freya is hoping to expand into bracelets and rings in future. Freya’s had a lot of positive feedback from parents, with one mother even remarking it’s helped reduce harm for her child when he’s having a meltdown.

Freya studies Social Care and Practice due to an interest in disability supports and hopes to one day work in the field. Her work is a testament to the network of support that emerges between families after diagnosis and the value of understanding from within the community.