Amor and Social Stigma: ASD Beliefs Among Immigrant Mexican Parents.

Cohen et al. (2018) talked with Mexican-heritage immigrant parents living in the United States.

They asked how these parents think about autism, what causes it, and how they feel about it.

The team used open interviews so parents could speak in their own words.

Parents often said their child’s autism showed loving and special traits.

Many named vaccines or family genes as the cause.

They also shared deep worry about being judged and feeling shame.

Viefhaus et al. (2020) surveyed almost 3 000 families across six Latin-American countries. They found the same mix of stigma and money problems, showing the issue is wider than one group.

Rivera-Figueroa et al. (2025) looked at many US races and ethnicities. They learned that stigma hurts service use mainly for Asian families, while money hurdles hit everyone. The results seem different, but both studies agree that shame is only one piece of the barrier puzzle.

Chan et al. (2021) in Hong Kong tracked how stigma raises parent depression. Their numbers back up the Mexican parents’ stories that judgment brings heavy feelings.

You will build trust faster if you ask new Mexican families what they believe about cause, love, and shame. Write their answers in the intake. Use their words to pick handouts and plan visits. When you show you heard them, they stay.