‘Everybody just freezes. Everybody is just embarrassed’: felt and enacted stigma among parents of children with high functioning autism

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study of felt and enacted stigma among a sample of parents of children with high functioning autism. The results indicate that a majority of the parents experienced both types of stigma, but that mothers were more likely to do so than fathers. This was especially true in the case of enacted stigma, where a majority of mothers, but only a minority of fathers, encountered avoidance, hostile staring and rude comments from others. The child's type of autistic symptoms was also related to the stigmatisation of their parents, with parents of aggressive children more likely to experience stigma than the parents of passive children. The study also found that the distinction between felt and enacted stigma was more distinct analytically than it was in practice, as many parents tended to conflate the different types of stigma. The results of the study are considered in the context of the changing conceptualisations of, and treatments for, high functioning autism and their implications for the stigmatisation of parents.

Video-Conference Interviews: Ethical and Methodological Concerns in the Context of Health Research

“…These findings are consistent with other studies (i.e. Gray, 1993;Gray, 2002;Green, 2003;Green et al, 2005;Broady et al, 2015;Kinnear et al, 2016) that indicated the majority of parents experienced felt stigma. Stigma certainly plays a major and significant role in making lives difficult for parents of children with ASD.…”

“…Gray, 2002;Hutton and Caron, 2005;Montes and Halterman, 2007;Tomanik, Harris and Hawkins, 2004) has discussed the difficulties that parents of children with ASD often face in their daily lives. Glover-Graf (2011), for instance, postulates that parents of children with ASD are likely to experience strained marital and extended family relationships, social isolation, challenging educational arrangements, and a sense of grief related to the restricted opportunities for their children.…”

Crying in the park: Autism stigma, school entry and maternal subjectivity

“…al. 2005) and helps us to comprehend the experience of mothers of children diagnosed with autism (see Gray 1993Gray , 2002.…”

“…In Australia, David Gray (1993Gray ( , 2002 has studied courtesy stigma amongst parents of children diagnosed with autism. He argues that mothers usually feel more stigmatised than fathers, in part because they 'take greater responsibility for the public presentation of the family' (Gray 1993, p.114) in fulfilling 'the traditional role of primary caregiver' (Gray 2002, p.743).…”

What Technology for Autism Needs to be Invented? Idea Generation from the Autism Community via the ASCmeI.T. App

“…Internationally, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the fastest growing developmental disability [5], creating significant challenges for educational, health and social care services [4,16], as well as for families and individuals (e.g. [7,9,10,12]). The increasing prevalence of autism is recognised as a global health priority [20], with WHO member nations being urged to prioritise the needs of individuals with autism and their families and communities through increasing research in service provision in order to improve available support.…”