“We can still be mother and son, Autism won’t stop that…” A narrative analysis of maternal experiences whilst raising a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Mothers are typically primary caregivers to children on the autism spectrum (Benson, 2012); whilst the majority of research focus primarily on the individual with autism, there is little consideration of the roles of caregivers’ and autism creating a gap in the literature. This is a qualitative study exploring the experiences of autism from a maternal perspective. Five mothers participated in semi structured interviews. The study employed a narrative analysis to identify core narratives involved when raising a child with autism. The analysis suggests mothers felt a substantial amount of guilt and responsibility specifically in the first year following diagnosis resulting in, eschewing from people around them. Furthermore, the diagnosis prompted mothers in starting their journey towards acceptance, happiness and facilitation of autism into their lives and considering the needs of their child and autism, as a vital factor when enabling their child with a successful start in life