Rethinking parenthood with autistic children in a social context of perfection By Ubonpun Theerasilp

Rethinking parenthood with autistic children in a social context of perfection Parent with autistic child New productive technology Media in consumer culture A social context of perfection Got some problems in their social lives and in medical treatment Normalization process Why Thai culture? New identity Passing and adapting their lives Most studies No studies in Thailand Previous research on Autism in Thailand on parenting disabled children has focused only on rehabilitation of children and none have focused on social stigma or cultural negotiation.

Puzzle Definition Parenthood with autistic children is struggled in a social context of perfection to transform from one’s prior identity to one’s newly emerging identity.

Research Question (s) How do families construct their stories of parenthood and autism?  How do the parents interpret their act of parenting an autistic child?  In parents’ experiences, how they view notions of personhood and choice for their children?  How do they adapt their lives in a social context of perfection?

to reveal the parent’s interpretation of disabled children as autism To disclose how the parent accept and practice their children as personhood to examine how they adapt their lives through their own experiences of parenting a child with autism. The objectives of this study

Methodology A research study in  15 narratives; region of Bangkok and territories  Participants: Parents with autistic children in the studies  The letter includes the research goals and indicated the researcher as mother of a child with autism  Unstructured interview: collection of parent’s story, such as giving birth, finding out, living with their autistic children. Interpretive and reflexive in methodology :  Recognize: how life experiences both enable and inhibit particular kinds of insight  “Insider” research: Sharing a trauma of dashed expectations

Findings: Disabled infants: dilemma in Thailand A life worth living constitutes based on scientific medical knowledge and religious belief in Thai culture.  For scientific knowledge, the medical professionals have legitimized to count the disabled people as being fully human or not.  For religious beliefs, lives of any disabled children are worth nurturing because their parents and autistic children have “kham”.

The construction of parenthood: The standard of normal body and disabled body are different in each culture. Reconstructing parenthood and the discourse of love: With the discourse of love, the parents rethink the quality of life of disabled person or better off never being born.  a movement of parents with autistic children in Thailand. Even though the concept of having perfect child is embodiment of parent’s choices, it does not mean parenthood has “failed”. ‘Love’ is the answer for caring autistic child, not advance in scientific technology.

Parenting autism in different contexts Thai parents with autistic children have to redefine their identities in various contexts. (a context of “difference”, new technology, societal devaluation, and cultural beliefs.)  Medical discourse is surveillance and regulation of parents’ bodies.  Prognosis of treatment autism is uncertainty situation. The parents find using constructive environment in therapy is not relevant for their children. The parents with autistic children use the pluralistic medical system even though the medical treatment is effective or not. The cultural beliefs help them to adapt their social lives.

This study shows the parents with autistic children are not necessary to suffer with disabled children in their tragedy. They need to challenge their lives and find a new meaning of their children. The meaning of personhood is different not only across cultures or across classes but over the course of an individual’s life as well. Reflections on personhood of autism

Conclusion A social context of perfection embodied to parenthood in Thai culture but still different from other cultures. Rethink: Caring autism need to concern the cultural perspective, not just the advances in medical technologies and treatment. Rethink personhood of autism as human. Even they cannot communicate and lack of understanding social interaction, this does not indicate an absence of feeling or desire for relationship.