It’s an absolute nightmare: maternal experiences of enrolling children diagnosed with autism in primary school in Sydney, Australia

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.