Gender and family-role portrayals of autism in British newspapers: An intersectional corpus-based study.
British newspapers still frame autism as a maternal deficit and under-represent autistic girls—use this evidence to push back against deficit-based media narratives.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Themis and colleagues read every British newspaper article that mentioned autism. They used computer tools to count words and phrases. The goal was to see how papers talk about gender and family roles.
The team looked for patterns. They checked who gets blamed, who gets quoted, and whose stories are told.
What they found
Newspapers paint autism as a problem. Mothers are singled out for criticism. Autistic girls are barely mentioned.
The coverage keeps the old idea that autism is a 'boy thing' and that moms are at fault.
How this fits with other research
The new data extend Brewer et al. (2017). That study showed UK crime stories link autism to danger. Themis et al. show the same papers now blame mothers and ignore girls.
The findings echo Thom-Jones et al. (2025). Both 2025 studies find stigma against mothers. Sandra used Reddit posts from autistic moms; Themis used newspaper text. Same problem, different lens.
The paper also backs Zakai-Mashiach (2023). Teachers overlook autistic girls in class. Newspapers mirror that blind spot by giving them less print space.
Together the chain is clear: milder girl traits (William et al. 2012) lead to late diagnosis, low media visibility, and continued mom blame.
Why it matters
You can use these facts when families repeat hurtful headlines. Show them the bias: papers over-criticize moms and under-count girls. Share gender-informed checklists and remind caregivers that autism looks different in females. Push back against deficit language in IEP meetings or parent training. A quick 'newspapers get this wrong' helps moms feel less blamed and helps girls get noticed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A recent large-scale study on the portrayal of autism in British newspapers revealed a deficit-based coverage, which concentrated on children and boys in particular, typically represented from the mothers' perspective. This follow-up study refines these representations, considering how they differ by gender and family role. We analysed 2998 text samples, which discussed autism in the context of four combinations of gender and family roles, namely, BOY, GIRL, FATHER and MOTHER. These samples included sources with different publication dates, reporting style and political orientation. Autism representations remained negative regardless of gender and family role. Over time, stories about autistic girls started to emerge, identifying them as a distinct group explicitly compared to autistic boys. Newspapers, especially broadsheets, associated girls with diagnostic difficulties, camouflaging and sometimes gender dysphoria - discussed particularly for those assigned female at birth. The child's autism was more often attributed to maternal than paternal behaviours or lifestyle. Autistic mothers were mentioned more often than fathers and were portrayed negatively. We conclude that newspapers portray female autism as less significant than male autism and, in addition, place mothers under more ethical scrutiny than fathers. These disparities reflect both historical biases in autism research and gender and family-role stereotypes.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2025 · doi:10.1177/13623613241303547