Noble Victory: A Family's Autism Journey

MANDEEP K. ATWAL KNEW FROM A YOUNG AGE SHE WANTED TO FIGHT FOR EQUALITY. Motivated and driven, she pursued a career in law, but even when she was a full-fledged lawyer and everything had gone according to her plans, she still felt like something was missing. She felt that it was time to start a family with her husband, Samir. But little did they know how that decision would take their souls to places they never could have imagined.

After multiple complications during the delivery, Mandeep gave birth to her son, JSS. The initial months of motherhood were difficult-and then, everything changed when Mandeep and Samir discovered their son had autism. Their lives became a whirlwind of therapies and doctors' visits, but the thing that stood out the most to Mandeep was how differently her son was treated at almost every turn. Why did the word "autism" suddenly change the way the world saw her kind, hardworking son? Why was he denied opportunities granted to other children?

A lifelong passion for justice and a never-ending drive to change the world led Mandeep exactly where she was meant to be. From that day onward, Mandeep and her family became advocates for autism awareness, first starting small among their friends and family, then spreading outward in their community. In Noble Victory, Mandeep and her family walk side by side in JSS's journey with autism and teach us that across the world, we are more alike than we are different, and that even one individual can make a difference.