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

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.