“I’m His Mouthpiece”: Black Mothers Educating Sons at the Intersection of Race, Class, and Autism

• In Event: Biographical Authorship and Contestation of Institutional Construction of Disability at Raced Intersections

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of fourteen Black women mothering at the intersection of race, class, gender and autism. Intersectionality disrupts renderings of autism mothers as exclusively White and middle class; the matrix of autism and mothering is not race neutral, with race determining access to special education and other services. Black mothers’ autism motherwork illuminated how race, class, gender, and autism intersect within schooling contexts, as participants described blatant affronts to Black mothers, with some reporting judgment, scrutiny, and educators’ attempts to minimize parental input on key decisions. Black autism mothers were empowered by resistance, determination, and an unwillingness to accept social injustices because their sons’ educational outcomes were contingent upon their motherwork.

Author

• Jeannine E. Dingus-Eason, Rider University