Life-changing moments
Before becoming a mum, MJ had a full-time career and was steadily climbing the corporate ladder as a Change Manager Consultant. After some major life-changing events, MJ took a long hard look at her life and knew that her purpose and mission had changed.
Initially from South Africa, MJ and her family had relocated from Auckland to Tauranga in 2016. With their second child only a few weeks old, the family received the news that their eldest son, who was about to turn 5, was diagnosed with Autism.
Mary-Jane tells me this was a tough time. Not only was she dealing with the realisation and gravity of her son's recent diagnosis, but her mum had also passed away in SA.
In coming to terms with what this would mean for her eldest and their whānau, she started to think, maybe, there might be other mums out there in the same situation. It was then MJ decided to find these wāhine and whānau who also had neurodiverse tamariki who might also be struggling.
It didn’t take her long to find them.
She tells me “We all got together and started a group, we realised - okay, well this is our new normal, and this is how we are gonna roll, and we just started to support each other, and it grew from there.”
MJ started A-Typical Mums in 2017, a support group for mums with autistic children. They ran every Friday morning at Holy Trinity Tauranga on Devonport Road, doing crafts and morning tea. This grew to include Mums’ Retreat Weekends at Steppingstone Ministries, dinners out and guest speakers to our group meetings.
In 2023 MJ and her team of volunteers took over Asperger’s Connections, a 13-year-old support group and renamed it Spectrum Connections. In 2024, they became a charitable Trust.
The other half of Spectrum Connections is Rachel Crump, also a mother of two, Rachel’s youngest is neurodiverse and has multiple health conditions. Rachel is born and raised in Tauranga, she’s a trained Early Childhood teacher and had worked in the sector for nine years before leaving due to the rising care needs of her youngest who is now homeschooled through Te Kura. She’s currently studying towards a Diploma in Disability Sector Leadership and has established knowledge and community in Tauranga and public health systems through many years of lived experience.
What we’ve learnt about the world of Autism and Neurodiversity so far
Mary-Jane tells me Autism and Neurodiversity are complex diagnoses, with no two people presenting the same. “There is no silver bullet, no magic pill, it’s a complicated lifelong journey that people need help and support with. Everyone in this space is just trying the best they can with the resources they have at the time. There is help out there, we just must find what works for each situation.”
Some of the biggest challenges in this space, MJ shares, is access to professionals for diagnosis, therapy, counselling, medication or funding. She’s witnessed a public system that is inundated with families experiencing long waiting times. There are options to have a private diagnosis, but they are expensive, and most families can’t afford this. MJ tells me that families with neurodiverse children feel like they are ‘not disabled enough’ to get support through the public system, but are ‘too disabled’ to cope with mainstream societal life.
She sees families in the Bay of Plenty with autism being denied access to funding, because they are not severe enough, which stops them from getting the support and services they need.
As well as the battle to get diagnoses, funding and access to services, there is not enough education awareness, acceptance and accommodation in schools, workplaces or mainstream society. Mary-Jane shares that because of this, families often feel incredibly lonely and isolated.
How having an office at Basestation is helping to support the mahi they do
MJ starts by telling me, she loves the community here, “It’s amazing to be in an office with such phenomenal peers around you”. She also shares that having a dedicated office space away from home also helps her own ADHD brain to focus on work without the distractions of being in an open-plan office or working from home. MJ has also enjoyed connecting with groups like STEMWana who also reside in the building. MJ and her team have also taken advantage of the meeting rooms on site, hosting workshops and catching up with others they work alongside.
Finally, please give us a pitch for Spectrum Connection
We are a group doing what we can, when we can, for who we can. We aim to partner with families and create a warm, welcoming space of acceptance where everyone feels valued and heard. Whether you are looking to learn more about ASD/ADHD, peer support, advice, respite, coaching or simply a place to just be yourself, we are here for you. There is something for everyone, you choose to engage in a way that suits you. Come to our training days, coffee group meetings, family fun days, mums’ day-off respite day or choose one on one coaching or peer support. We have a wide network of connections. If we don’t have the answer, we will do our best to find someone who does. We walk the journey with you and find solutions together.
If you’d like to find out more about what Spectrum Connection do, visit their website here: https://spectrumconnections.weebly.com/