Outside the margins: A Capabilities Approach to understanding mothers’ experiences accessing education services for their autistic adolescent sons in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

Abstract

I explore the experiences of mothers who have sons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Using semi-structured interviews, 10 mothers from Saudi Arabia and seven mothers from Bahrain talked about their experiences of finding appropriate schools and autism centres for their sons. In Saudi Arabia, the country’s male guardian laws, the rules on strict sex segregation meant that the mothers were severely restricted in their freedoms ‘to do and to be’. In Bahrain the mothers experienced fewer restrictions than did the mothers in Saudi Arabia, but, nevertheless, faced barriers because of ignorance about autism. The findings were analysed against Nussbaum’s version of the Capabilities Approach to reveal limited opportunities ‘to do and to be’.