Gore Katherine, Hayward Susan M, Flower Rebecca L, Gilbert Melissa, Barbaro Josephine
Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Autism Adulthood. 2024 Mar 1;6(1):47-59. doi: 10.1089/aut.2022.0089. Epub 2024 Feb 28.
Although there are no known studies investigating autistic working mothers, research has demonstrated that managing employment and motherhood in non-autistic populations has specific challenges, as does employment in autistic populations. This autistic-led study aimed at investigating the experience of autistic working mothers to identify benefits, challenges, and support needs.
We utilized a subjectivist epistemological perspective to learn about the experiences of autistic working mothers. We recruited 10 autistic working mothers (aged 34-50 years) via social media advertisements, who participated in a 45- to 60-minute semi-structured interview where we asked questions developed in consultation with a community reference group. We transcribed interviews and then analyzed them using inductive reflexive thematic analysis.
We identified three key themes. The first theme, "Wellbeing: Work gives me purpose," discusses how employment supports mental well-being. The second theme, "Challenges: It's hard being an autistic working mother," includes the challenges of balancing work and caregiving, guilt related to being a working mother, and issues with part-time work. The third theme, "The invisible disability: Everyone thinks I look okay," discusses the lack of understanding of participants' challenges, with assumptions they are coping, and the lack of supports that led to some participants no longer seeking assistance.
The responses of the autistic women who took part support a view that autistic working mothers may experience some similar challenges to non-autistic working mothers, including stress in juggling caring and work roles. They identified additional challenges related to their gender and their autistic identity, including a lack of understanding of the female (or "internalized") presentation of autism. These findings will help autistic working mothers by promoting a better understanding of their experiences and challenges when they speak with health professionals, government, and employers seeking support and accommodations.
尽管尚无关于自闭症职业母亲的研究，但已有研究表明，非自闭症人群在兼顾工作和母亲身份方面面临特定挑战，自闭症人群就业也同样如此。这项由自闭症患者主导的研究旨在调查自闭症职业母亲的经历，以确定其益处、挑战和支持需求。
我们采用主观主义认识论视角来了解自闭症职业母亲的经历。通过社交媒体广告招募了10位自闭症职业母亲（年龄在34至50岁之间），她们参与了一场45至60分钟的半结构化访谈，访谈中我们提出了与一个社区参考小组协商后制定的问题。我们对访谈进行了转录，然后使用归纳反思主题分析法进行分析。
我们确定了三个关键主题。第一个主题是“幸福感：工作赋予我目标”，讨论了就业如何支持心理健康。第二个主题是“挑战：身为自闭症职业母亲很艰难”，包括平衡工作和照顾孩子的挑战、作为职业母亲的内疚感以及兼职工作的问题。第三个主题是“隐形残疾：每个人都认为我看起来没事”，讨论了对参与者所面临挑战缺乏理解、认为她们能够应对的假设，以及缺乏支持导致一些参与者不再寻求帮助的情况。
参与研究的自闭症女性的回答支持了这样一种观点，即自闭症职业母亲可能面临一些与非自闭症职业母亲类似的挑战，包括在兼顾照顾和工作角色时的压力。她们还指出了与自身性别和自闭症身份相关的额外挑战，包括对自闭症女性（或“内化”）表现缺乏理解。这些发现将有助于自闭症职业母亲，因为当她们与寻求支持和便利的健康专业人员、政府及雇主交谈时，能促进对方更好地理解她们的经历和挑战。
