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This is the first qualitative study to investigate experiences of, and attitudes towards, autism in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. Understanding the complexity of these attitudes is crucial because they influence the recognition of autism as well as the ways in which individuals and families are supported. Twelve families with 16 autistic children living in diverse regions of Australia participated in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were thematically analysed using the six-step process outlined by Braun and Clarke. The analysis identified a marked tension in participants' accounts. On the one hand, participants described negative feelings, including shame associated with atypical behaviour, stigmatisation and the social isolation of families, which potentially point towards under-identification or misdiagnosis. On the other hand, they also described inclusive attitudes, including 'looking after each other' and a growing acceptance of autistic differences. This positive model of support for and acceptance of autistic children and their families may well contribute to good outcomes for autistic children and adults in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. More research is needed on cross-cultural and pluralistic understandings of autism, parental perceptions and family experience.

This article investigates the experiences of students diagnosed with autism who change schools during the early primary years in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Using the narratives of eight mothers, the article documents the circumstances leading to school change, usually towards more segregated provision. Mothers highlighted the difficulty of these school transitions and the family distress that often prompted change. The eight cases of school change that are analysed provide a stark picture of the extent to which Australian schools are unable to adapt to these students. Rather than searching for the causes of these difficulties in the behaviour of students, it is argued that we need to look at the pattern of deficits found in classrooms and schools, as described by concerned mothers. In this article the pattern is referred to as Autism Inclusion Disorder. The defining features of this disorder are the co-presence of persistent school deficits in social communication/interaction (including teacher inability to interact with students) and school restricted and repetitive behaviours (such as rigid adherence to negative behaviour management). Maternal school change narratives suggest that for a genuinely inclusive education system to develop more attention should be directed towards changing schools rather than changing children to fit traditional classrooms.

This article explores the different forms of professional guidance negotiated by mothers as they search for a primary school placement for their child diagnosed with autism. The intensely contested terrain of whether segregated or "regular" classrooms would be "better" for the child shapes the contours of both professional guidance and maternal decision-making. Interviews with 22 women whose children were about to start primary school in Sydney, Australia, allows an exploration of the ways women engage with or reject professional guidance, offered by paediatricians, psychologists, early intervention professionals, and education providers. Mothers frequently received conflicting professional guidance, and felt conflicted about their schooling decisions, especially when students are labelled "borderline." Overall, recent suggestions of a democratisation of autism expertise are not supported by this research, which underlines the need to analyse both the agency of mothers and the power differentials that continue to exist between families and experts.

In this article I analyse maternal narratives of informal school exclusion at the point of transition into primary school in Sydney, Australia. The common thread that connects these narratives is the experience of stigma. Some scholars have argued that the link between stigma and disability is weakening. The material presented here, drawn from interviews with 22 mothers of children with autism, gives a picture of the continuing pervasive stigmatisation of children with autism and their mothers, as well as a systemic failure of all sectors of the education system in Australia to meet the promises of policies of school inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The field of autism interventions, as well as advice given to parents on educating children with autism spectrum disorders, is characterized by competing claims and controversy. This article compares two events targeted at parents, both of which were staged on the same weekend in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. One centered on applied behavioral analysis, holding out the promise of potential normalization for children with autism and their families. The other, mobilizing civil rights rhetoric, pushed for the full educational inclusion of all children with disabilities. This article investigates the assumptions underlying these varied positions and assesses some of the ways in which parents, especially mothers, make sense of and situationally negotiate these often emotionally charged claims and counter-claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]