Mrs Hinchliffe, alias Sophie Hinchliffe, has announced that both she and her four-year-old son Ronnie have autism.
The 33-year-old influencer, who provides housekeeping advice with her 4.7 million Instagram followers, confirmed the news in an emotional post on Wednesday.
Autism spectrum disorder, sometimes known as autism, is a developmental illness characterised by difficulty in social relationships and communication with others. Some people have difficulty understanding what others are experiencing and struggle in social situations.
Sophie began by putting Autism between two red love emojis.
She added: ‘A question I am asked daily. Mrs Hinch, is Ronnie autistic? Yes, our wonderful Ronnie is autistic.
‘In fact, I am too. Both Ron and I have had confirmation for a while now. We decided as a family to take our time to process, to learn, to grow and to find our way together before we shared.
‘So that’s exactly what we did and are continuing to do each day. We have hard days but we also have lots of magical days,’ the social media star continued.
Sophie – who speaks openly with her followers about parenting – went on: ‘And if only everyone accepted and understood autism, the world really would be a much better place.
‘Ronnie, thank you for being ours, for being so precious and simply incredible. Because of you everything finally made sense to me after 33 years.
‘You are my absolute inspiration in life. I love you Ron … Mummy is right here with you, in this together, forever xxx.’
Sophie lives with her husband, Jamie Hinchcliffe, aka Mr Hinch, with Ronnie and their two-year-old son Lennie.
He commented on the post: ‘💙💗 so unbelievably proud.’
Sophie was bombarded with praise for sharing the diagnosis, with @asd_with_a_g_and_t writing: ‘Love this honey. I think our kids teach us more than the other way round to be honest. 🤣 Loads of love to you all ❤️❤️❤️.’
@kerrys_corner added: ‘I truly believe autism is something to celebrate ❤️ seeing the world in a different way xx.’
@unbeweavablehairsalon commented: ‘So glad to read this!!! So proud of you and your amazing family!!! ❤️❤️❤️.’
Sophie responded amid all the positive messages: ‘Oh gosh I’m not even sure what to say here 😭❤️ blown away absolutely no words xxxx.’
The social media star’s announcement comes after Ronnie was hospitalised in June and diagnosed with Kawasaki illness, a rare inflammatory ailment.
The cleaning sensation took to Instagram the following month to confirm the youngster had been given the all-clear and that the family had ‘had the most amazing results from Ronnie’s most recent heart scan.’
What is autism?
According to the NHS, being autistic means your brain works in a different way than other people. It is something you’re born with and isn’t a medical condition with treatments or a cure.
It is a developmental condition that causes difficulties with social interactions and communicating with others. Some find it difficult to understand what other people are feeling and struggle in social settings.
Autistic people might:
- find it hard at times to communicate and interact with other people
- find it difficult to understand how others think or feel
- take longer to understand certain things
- get overwhelmed, stressed or uncomfortable while surrounded by bright lights or loud noises
- get anxious or upset when it comes to being in unfamiliar situations or attending social events
- do or think the same things again and again