Boyzone heartthrob and father Keith Duffy opened up about his daughter with autism. He also gave parents of special needs kids advice on how to process their grief about such a diagnosis.
Duffy shared it's time for parents to stop mourning about what happened to their son or daughter with autism. The dad, however, understood where grieving parents are coming from since he knew how this felt following his daughter's diagnosis, as per Daily Mail,
When the former boyband singer and TV star's daughter was only 18 months, doctors detected her autism. Today, however, Mia is a thriving and growing 17-years-old who's learning to manage her disorder.
The dad proudly revealed Mia recently received her Junior Certificate in school. "She started to become more a part of our world in small ways, she would start to take you by the hand when she needed something and push your hand into whether it was in the direction of the cupboard or the fridge," he said.
His daughter might be progressing in the right direction but the former Boyzone member acknowledged going through a grieving phase after learning his baby had autism. In fact, Mia didn't learn to talk until she turned 7-years-old, which became a source of frustration for her dad and mom, Lisa, as per Mirror.
Duffy, however, realized his daughter's life will be filled with challenges every day, so he has to learn to embrace the positive and end his mourning in order to help her. In his bid to change the stigma around autism, Duffy participated in making the TV documentary "Let Me In."
He also encouraged parents to get a screening and an early diagnosis for their kids. "The earlier you can diagnose a child with autism the earlier you can put in place an intervention plan and I think that's fantastic," he said. Watch a part of the documentary in the video below:
