‘I accept my son for who he is – he has incredible character and personality’: fathers’ positive experiences of parenting children with autism

Abstract

Literature in the field of autism is largely deficit driven, with a focus on the inabilities of individuals and the negative experiences of families, often characterised by reductive assumptions and tragedy model interpretations. In addition, family-orientated research has generally overlooked the views and contribution of fathers of disabled children, with positive paternal narratives especially scarce. This study explored 198 father perspectives on perceived benefits of parenting their children with autism, gained in response to an open-ended question in an online survey. Key themes relate to appreciating children’s individual qualities, valuing the strong emotional bond, fathers’ own nurturing role and their associated personal development. Findings will be discussed in relation to models of childhood disability and fatherhood.

Keywords:

• Fathers
• autism
• positive experience
• models of childhood disability
• models of fatherhood

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the 306 fathers of children with autism who took time out of very busy lives to complete the survey. The author would also like to thank Dr Chris Whittaker for his unstinting support throughout the research project and in particular for his insightful comments on this article. Thanks also to Roger Olley, M.B.E, Phil Hislop and Professor John Carpenter for their expert contribution to the verification group associated with the wider Leverhulme study.