"I've accepted the diagnosis. I just need to embrace the diagnosis." A reflexive thematic analysis of autistic mothers' perspective on autistic identity,parenthood, and adulthood.

"I've accepted the diagnosis. I just need to embrace the diagnosis." A reflexive thematic analysis of autistic mothers' perspective on autistic identity,parenthood, and adulthood.

Research about autistic parents has omitted the simultaneous aspects of autistic parents’ lives such as employment, relationships, education, management of home, and medical health care needs. The research presented in this thesis aims to prioritise the acknowledgement that autistic individuals can be successful parents, while also identifying possible common themes or similarities within the life experiences of autistic parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven autistic mothers. These mothers had diverse family structures including number, age, and autism diagnoses of children and co-parents and romantic partners. Interviews focused on family structures, their roles and responsibilities as autistic parents, and strategies utilised to balance these roles and responsibilities. A strengths-based approach with reflexive thematic analysis identified three key themes and six sub-themes that acknowledged the difficulties in being autistic while parenting, but also benefits to being autistic. Most participants related their own childhood as undiagnosed autistic girls to how they approach their parenting choices with their children- particularly in how they prioritise the development of their children’s self-esteem, sense of belonging, and feeling loved and supported by their parents. To this end, it is a secondary aim to disseminate the findings from this study in public and open-access forums to provide the opportunity for the neurotypical community to understand the strengths and needs of this cohort more deeply.

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