He’s notoriously private about his personal life, but yesterday, Waleed Aly opened up about his son’s autism diagnosis and the impact it has had on his family.
WATCH Waleed Aly open up about his son’s autism diagnosis:
The Project host described the diagnosis as a “relief” during a segment about comedian Tom Gleisner’s work with Learning For Life Autism Centre.
“I know when we got our diagnosis for our son we actually had the opposite reaction to the guy in the package,” Waleed said of the moment he and wife Dr Susan Carland were told son, Zayd had autism.
“I didn’t worry, it didn’t hit me in the face — it actually explained a lot of things and it opened up doors,” he continued, before explaining he then had to learn how to adapt his parenting style to Zayd’s needs.
“Then what happens is you’ve got to try and reorientate everything, so that you’re communicating with the kid in a way that actually works with the way their brain works,”
“And when you do that and you get those moments where a door opens, and suddenly they do something … your heart just leaps.”
Waleed and Susan have been married for 17 years and share children Aisha, 15 and Zayd, 11.
The Project host went on to admit that, despite his positive attitude towards his son’s diagnosis, he still worries about his future.
“The thing that is really scary about it is you actually don’t know what their ceiling is,” he said.
“So all the things that you would normally take for granted like when they have a career, when they get married or whatever, you’re just facing an unknown. You don’t know if those things will ever be possible.
“And when you see something you don’t know is possible happen it changes your world, it’s really powerful.”
This isn’t the first time the TV star has spoken about Zayd’s autism diagnosis. In 2016 Waleed admitted finding out his son had autism was “a major thing for us.”
“He’s a lovely little man, and it’s lovely watching him grow through all these things,” he said.
“Because of the early diagnosis, he was able to get the support he needed. He’s just coming on in leaps and bounds.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
