The experience of mothers raising children with autism: Factors for empowerment and positive reframing

Abstract

This chapter draws from a cross-disciplinary, large scale, research project (InMeD) which explored the experiences of 83 mothers raising children with autism across different social class positions, through individual in-depth interviews. In this chapter, we focus on the group of mothers who, following a long journey of grief, were led to selfwilled reflection on their mothering experience and biographical transformation of their identity and existence as a whole. The qualititative differences which have been crystallized in the course of their internal acceptance portray reflective understandings of their self, their life and their relationships with significant persons and third parties. These mothers have drawn from personal and social resources such as their family relationships, the quality of their therapeutic relationships, their personal values and their resilience