What started as a mother sharing her lived experience online has grown into a platform for connection and awareness. Bongiwe Leepiloe’s journey through autism and motherhood has led her to challenge how disability is understood in South Africa. Bongiwe Leepiloe, a mother of two, one of whom has autism, says she does not view her motherhood outside of autism.
Caring for a child who cannot always express themselves through words challenged her to learn a different language. Communication came through differe channels. She says she would never have opened up to this had she not been raising an autistic child.
She is raising a six-year-old son, Tlotlego Alpha Ledwaba, who has autism. “I think autism is what actually gave me the biggest lessons into motherhood – it gave me more patience, more understanding and the ability to sit and listen,” she said. Leepiloe says the journey began when Tlotlego was two years old.
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He experienced a regression; his development was going backwards instead of improving. She explained that he was only left with two words – mom and dad. “He went from saying his ABC’s and telling you what he wanted to not being able to say it, but pointing,” she said.
When he started losing his speech, Leepiloe took him to speech therapy because she thought it was a speech issue. She says that gradually his words were replaced by sounds, and he started humming. Before this journey, Leepiloe did not know anything about autism.
“I told his speech therapist about it, and he referred him to a developmental paediatrician. We got the diagnosis when he was three,” said Leepiloe. “Because it was my first child and I was not aware what autism is, it didn’t hit me that hard; it only hit me after I did my research on what autism is,” she added.
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