PORT MARIA, St Mary — When Tabika Bowerbank’s four-year-old son Mali was diagnosed with autism in 2020, she felt as if her world had shifted. She navigated speech delays, therapy schedules, and there were many days at 2:00 am when she would be Googling: How do I help my child?

“I wished someone would just hand me a road map and say, ‘Start here,’ ” she recalled during a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Bowerbank lives overseas and was able to eventually access the resources needed, but her heart kept going back to Jamaica, where she was born and educated up to college level.

“I thought about the mothers back home,” she said, her voice softening. “Long waiting lists, no specialists, no information, no money. Who was helping them? I did not want to just talk about what Jamaica needs. I wanted to come home and build it.”

For the past six years she has been ‘Mean Mom’ on TikTok and Instagram, offering blunt, funny, no-nonsense commentary. She has carefully curated content to craft the persona of the mom who will tell you the truth about autism when others would not.

Bowerbank, who describes herself as an advocate, educator, and entrepreneur, is founder of Spectrum Stars JA. On October 24 it will host its first Autism Community Fun Day under the theme ‘Shining Together, Supporting Every Star’ at Noranda Sports Centre in Discovery Bay, St Ann.

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“It will not be about bouncy castles and music. It will be for families to get their child assessed by professionals for free; accessing sensory-friendly activities; meeting doctors, therapists, and others,” an excited Bowerbank told the
Observer.

“Every child on the spectrum is different, with different strengths, different challenges, different ways of communicating. But everyone deserves the opportunity to shine. That is where real inclusion begins,” the autism advocate added.

At the heart of her advocacy is the simple desire to help her son be the very best version of himself.

“I am just a mother who had to learn how to fight for her child. Spectrum Stars is an extension of that fight,” she said.

“He taught me that a child who does not speak still has so much to say; a child who does not make eye contact is still listening; that a meltdown is not bad behaviour; that learning differently does not mean not learning at all. Sometimes parents are just asking for access to the same world as everyone else,” Bowerbank added.