“A mother has to be strong!”: Narrating “strong motherhood” in China's online autism community

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are under-diagnosed, underprivileged, and under-supported within China's child population of 298 million. They live in a context where a comprehensive national policy tailored to their needs is yet to materialize, access to specialized services is limited, and social stigma is entrenched. As such, families become front-line support and the de facto safety net for these vulnerable children. In this study, leveraging publicly available “we-media” data comprising family stories by 88 mothers of autistic children, I conduct a two-layered narrative analysis that seeks to understand their experiences raising autistic children and their narrative strategies to construct their self-identities and their children's identities in society. The thematic analysis of mothers’ experiences reveals a pattern of “expansive mothering” among mothers of children with ASD. This form of mothering encompasses multiple, overlapping roles: primary caregiver, (semi-)professional ASD therapist, education agent or facilitator, and social justice advocate for their children. Also emerging from the data is a narrative of “strong motherhood”, which draws from the cultural script of the “good mother” ( liangmu ) in Confucian ideals and the class discourse of “eating bitterness” that valorize mothers’ moral strength, child-centric care practices and educational labor, and maternal sacrifices. This study documents the coexisting resilience and vulnerabilities of Chinese families in caring for special needs children, especially the gendered parental care and labor by “strong mothers”, and opens theoretical spaces to address the linkages between gender, care, and social justice in special needs settings.