Following is the third place winner in the NSM ‘You Deserve to Indulge’ Mother’s Day Competition 2015. Here, Emily McIntyre of Berowra tells us all about her fabulous friend Kristen Gislason Callow from Epping.
‘There are so many mothers I want to celebrate this Mother’s Day, mothers who truly deserve to be pampered and indulged. There are many wonderful mums who I admire and respect, who do great things for their community and who give a mountain of love to their children. These women enhance the lives of everyone around them and make the world a little bit better. One of those shining stars is my friend and favourite ‘mom amongst mums’, Kristen Callow.
I met Kristen online a few short years ago through the North Shore Mums Facebook group. The first time I interacted with her, I was commenting on an article she wrote for April’s Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. It was passionate, informative and clearly shaped by profound personal experiences. We formed an online friendship, despite our differing (but evolving) opinions on many political and economic topics and her insistence on using American spellings. I came to know Kristen as the first person to call out injustice, the first person to offer a comforting thought, and a genuinely good soul. The world needs more of these people.
I was impressed (and a little intimidated) when I learned that she was trained as a lawyer, had worked for the Peace Corps and, at the time we met, was juggling two children and a challenging career with one of the most respected consulting firms in the world. (She is now taking a hiatus from work to be a stay-at-home mom). Luckily for me, she admits to being a terrible housekeeper and ‘a bit daggy’.
As I got to know her online and off, I came to know more about her family. Kristen’s daughter is a bright, beautiful nine-year-old with a very complicated profile. She is a budding computer coder and impeccable speller who hates homework and loves creating movies with her younger brother (who she also likes to torment sometimes!). She is also autistic, gifted, has a diagnosis of ADHD and struggles with severe anxiety.
Because of her daughter, Kristen lives and breaths autism awareness and acceptance. Each year throughout April, Kristen posts a heartfelt ‘daily nugget’ online about autism in the hope that parents of neurotypical and autistic children can work together to change cultural norms. This is in addition to the many valuable pieces about autism and neurodiversity she writes throughout the year (often featuring adorable flashback photos that her daughter has approved) and the informal advice she so generously dispenses.
In knowing Kristen I have come to understand that meltdowns and tantrums are not the same thing. I now realise that autism is not an ‘epidemic’ or something to be feared or cured; it is a neurological difference that affects how someone sees and processes the world. I now have a clearer understanding of how to support my friends who are raising children with special needs. Thanks to Kristen I also now have an appreciation that parenting an autistic child can be both a wonderfully unique and challenging experience, and that so often the challenges are due to the fact that our world is not very good at embracing people who are different.
If anyone can change that dynamic it is my friend Kristen. Not only does she support both her children fiercely and without missing a beat, she is passionate to a fault about helping other parents. Kristen is a tireless advocate for families facing a new diagnosis, battling to get an accurate diagnosis, or understanding the many idiosyncrasies that make up their beautiful, complicated children. She has mentored hundreds of families through the diagnosis stage and well beyond, taking many fellow North Shore Mums under her wing in that process. She is zealous about providing quality information, helping parents understand some of the common (and not-so-common) signs of autism, encouraging them to get the right type of professional guidance, and being there as a post-diagnosis support system when they might be overwhelmed with questions about things such as funding, early intervention and school choice. She helps parents feel supported and empowered, rather than scared and alone.
Kristen is on the Board of Directors for Autism Awareness, which is one of the largest autism education and advocacy groups in the country. Her knowledge of autism and ADHD is extensive, but her drive to make the world better for everyone she comes into contact with is what makes me most proud to be her friend. I am richer for knowing her, and though she will be embarrassed that I have nominated her, she is so deserving of this public recognition. I have always thought that if every person showed just a little bit of kindness and acceptance our world would be an infinitely better place. Thank you, dear Kristen, for showing us the way!
A ‘Smurfette’ Kristen and her lovely daughter for Go Blue for Autism awareness.
More NSM Mother’s Day Mums…
- ‘She has a rare lung condition…but nothing is too much trouble for Kate.’
- ‘She lost her husband to depression, and continues to put others before herself.’
- ‘She migrated from Fiji and worked hard to build her family up from nothing.’
- ‘She’s an Irish mum of four who can’t say no to anyone.’
