On July 8th, a small group of mothers gathered at Dreamy Delights by Sidra for something Dubai’s expat community rarely gets to see: an unfiltered conversation about raising autistic children far from home. Organized by The Expat Story in partnership with Box of Events, the exclusive breakfast brought together autism moms for two hours of honesty, humour, and hard-won wisdom, hosted by Mahwash Ajaz, Editor-in-Chief of The Expat Story and an autism mom herself.
What emerged wasn’t a polished panel discussion. It was closer to a group of old friends finally saying out loud what they usually carry alone.
Different Stages, Same Fatigue
The women in the room were at very different points in their journeys. Tanveer, originally from Pakistan, is raising an 18-year-old non-verbal autistic daughter. She spoke candidly about the toll of long-term caregiving — the anxiety that builds from uncertainty, and how much easier the path would be with structured support. Her hope was simple: a real training platform where parents could learn to cope, rather than figuring it out alone through trial and error.
Zunaira, mother of three with her youngest on the spectrum, offered a gentler philosophy — take it one day at a time. Muzna, whose son is six, echoed a similar sentiment but pushed back on the pressure to always stay upbeat. Life with a special needs child, she said, is unpredictable, and forcing constant positivity isn’t realistic. On the hardest days, she admitted, you sometimes have to trick your own mind just to keep going.
Suja, an expat from India with a 28-year-old autistic son, brought a dual perspective — as both a mother and a professional working with children with developmental disabilities. Her message centred on something mothers often neglect: their own mental health. Conserving your energy and actively asking family for help, she said, isn’t optional. It’s necessary.
The Real Challenge Isn’t the Child
Perhaps the most striking theme of the morning was how often the hardest part of this journey has nothing to do with the child at all — it’s other people.
Sapna, whose 14-year-old daughter was diagnosed at age three, put it plainly: the biggest challenge of being an autism mom isn’t the disability itself. It’s the world’s refusal to understand it. She described the sting of casual judgment from people who ask why a child “hasn’t been taught” something, without any grasp of what autism actually means. Her advice to other mothers was to live in the moment, rather than measuring their child’s life against a neurotypical timeline.
Suja shared a moment that captured this perfectly — her brother-in-law once suggested swimming as an activity for her son, and she found herself asking him: you’re his uncle, why don’t you take him? The comment revealed an uncomfortable truth many in the room recognized instantly — families often assume caregiving is the mother’s job alone, offering suggestions instead of support.
What Comes Next
When Mahwash asked the group what they hoped for going forward, the answers converged on one word: awareness. Across India, Pakistan, and South Asia more broadly, the mothers agreed that autism remains poorly understood, and that stigma — not the condition itself — is often what isolates families the most. Bullying goes unaddressed. Extended families offer opinions instead of hands-on help. And mothers are left to explain, again and again, an experience that’s nearly impossible to translate to someone who hasn’t lived it.
As one guest put it, every day teaches you something new — but that lesson might not apply tomorrow, because tomorrow will bring something else entirely. The only real constant, the room seemed to agree, is empathy.
The breakfast didn’t offer easy answers — autism rarely does. But for two hours, a group of women who spend their days explaining themselves to the unconvinced were simply understood, without having to ask. That, several agreed, was the whole point.
Their hope now reaches beyond that one morning. Not sympathy, but empathy. Not advice, but actual help — a hand with the school run, a family member who shows up instead of suggesting, a community that chooses to learn rather than judge. These mothers aren’t asking the world to fix anything. Just to walk alongside them.
