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The identity of parent ‘advocates’ of autistic children: a discursive psychological examination of two in-depth interviews

Milton, Damian (2010) The identity of parent ‘advocates’ of autistic children: a discursive psychological examination of two in-depth interviews. Project report. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (Unpublished) (KAR id:62665)

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Abstract

This project aimed to examine the everyday talk of parent ‘advocates’ of autistic children, in the construction of their own self-identities. The project employed a discursive social psychological approach, in order to examine two semi-structured interviews with parent ‘advocates’, in terms of the interpretive repertoires employed, subject positions taken up, and any ideological dilemmas expressed. A number of repertoires, subject positions, and dilemmas were established within the texts, the most poignant being a ‘militarised’ repertoire, constructing a subject position of a ‘fighter’ in a ‘battle zone’, against a ‘system’ of professionals, ostensibly in place to help such families. In so doing, the discourses, presented an alternative explanation to the stress often reported in research regarding parents of autistic children, being located within the condition or behaviour of their autistic child; suggesting that further research is needed to explore the reasons behind this tension.

Item Type: Reports and Papers (Project report)
Uncontrolled keywords: Autism, Parenting, Selfhood, Interpretive repetoires
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC553.A88 Autism. Asperger's syndrome
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Tizard
Depositing User: Damian Milton
Date Deposited: 14 Aug 2017 09:21 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:24 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/62665 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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