About Porscia

Porscia Lam graduated from the University of Melbourne with degrees in commerce and law.  She began her career at international firm King & Wood Mallesons before working in-house at various large corporates. Porscia welcomed a son in 2018 and a daughter in 2019.

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Porscia’s son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Under Melbourne’s severe lockdown measures, Porscia and her husband struggled to manage Harry’s challenging and extreme behaviour, which they eventually discovered met the description of Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). PDA is an emerging sub-type of autism, stubbornly unresponsive to many of the supports commonly used for autism.

The following year, Porscia quit her job and began a three-year career break to oversee Harry’s therapy. During that time, she immersed herself in learning about autism, PDA and applied behaviour analysis (ABA) therapy.

Asking the internet, “Does ABA therapy work for PDA?” every day failed to yield a satisfying answer.  There was no way to find out other than by trying it, so that is what the family did. Harry’s therapists worked creatively, using a person-centred and playful philosophy, with the ambitious goal of getting him school-ready. The success of this early intervention led Porscia to write her first book, The Unlocking: An Autism Story, which was shortlisted for the Hawkeye Manuscript Development Prize in 2024 and earned a Kirkus Star in 2025.

Porscia has since returned to working life as a lawyer, and in her spare time she pursues her longstanding passion of rock-climbing.  Her writing has been featured in Adventure Mag, Onya Magazine, Women’s Agenda and MusePaper.  She was a speaker at Autism Awareness Australia’s AUStism 2025 event in Sydney.

From mid-2025 onwards, Porscia will be available to be commissioned as an author or co-author for works of narrative non-fiction.  Get in touch via the Contact page.