I was six when my younger brother was born. The contentment feeling of having a sibling was the great joy for me, why wouldn’t it be after all he was my living doll to play with.

As time passed my mother first realized something was different, Dikshyant’s behavior was offbeat. He was not blessed with natural speech, no eye contact, monotonous behavior of hand flapping, pre-occupied with single television channel and lots more. My mother being a working woman was going through a tough period; there was work to be done, office to be attended, a daughter to take care of and plenty of doctor’s appointments.

Dikshyant was three when he was diagnosed with autism. In order to help him being a better person in future my parents started doing their research

and being part of various training provided by Autism Care Nepal Society (ACNS).When my parents were away I was in charge of the house and was responsible for everything Dikshyant did.

I was in my pre-teen and having an autistic sibling made my days more challenging. When I was out of sight for two minutes destruction was guaranteed. He acted like sleeping and when I was out he would turn my room upside down and show some self-injuring activities like hand biting. Being the weaker one my parents always look after him. If he did some minor thing that develops into subject of discussion for an entire week. In spite of her busy schedule mom always had time for him which got me the feeling being of unwanted.

At the same time, I started employing myself in the world of autism. Reading articles, blog posts, joining various social media based groups catered me inspiring stories. Those groups worked as support system and motivated me to work in the field of autism itself. I attended a workshop which was based on adolescent and changes it brings on behavior of children with autism.

There I learned how I as a sibling can be therapist and help my sibling on controlling certain behavior. I and my parents started implementing the learning of workshop by taking our first step that is teaching him how to change his clothes privately. It took some time but gradually he started following the instruction.

Being an elder sister I started creating awareness about autism in my college. At the beginning I disliked talking about autism and what my brother is with my friends but as time passed I started feeling secure.