Neurologically-Mixed Couples’ Relationships Research Study
WHICH DISCOURSES UNDERPIN LONG-TERM, AUTISTIC/NON-AUTISTIC ROMANTIC COUPLES’ UNDERSTANDINGS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS THEY LIVE WITH AND ACCOMMODATE EACH OTHER? A CRITICAL DISCOURSE/NARRATIVE INQUIRY
Are you in a long-term romantic relationship in which one of you identifies as Asperger’s or Autistic? if so you may be interested in reading a summary of my doctoral research. Here is the abstract, but please do contact me for a full lay summary.
This piece of work draws on both critical discourse and critical narrative inquiry to examine the long-term romantic relationship experiences of those in autistic/non-autistic long-term romantic relationships. Four couples participated, three heterosexual and one female same sex couple. The participants were given the opportunity to tell their narratives in a variety of forms, through interviews, emails, stories and with photographs and mementoes as prompts. These forms inspired the way that the data was retold in the research. I used a variety of styles, reflecting the narrative choices of the participants. Through interviews with participants individually, and as a couple, over sixteen months, the participants and researcher were able to distinguish discourses (common sense understandings of the way that society should be) that framed relationship expectations. The western romantic discourse and the evangelical Christian romantic discourse were identified.
It was evident that when relationships did not match dominant discourses the partners suffered stress, reduced self-confidence and disappointment. The non-autistic partners experienced more negative effects than the autistic participants. As the stories were analysed the importance of the participants’ historical family narratives became apparent as these intertwined and clashed with the romantic discourses without the individual being aware, causing further anxiety.
Four relational aspects where stress was experienced were returned to repeatedly by the participants, expressions of love, positionality, communication and socialising, and were considered in depth. After the couples had been together for a number of years, they began to consider autism for one partner and learn about the available autism discourses. This enabled them to reframe their relationships, resisting the subjugating aspects of dominant romantic discourses and creating new relationship understandings. The individuals drew on different autism discourses for different purposes. Those who predominantly drew on a neurodiverse or social discourse seemed to have more equal and mutually rewarding relationships than those who drew on a deficit discourse.
The full thesis can be found at https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/sc-theses/83/
Please feel free to contact me with any further questions,
Kind regards
Dr Vivien Southall
Alumni Fellow Plymouth University
vivien.southall@plymouth.ac.uk
Plymouth Institute of Education, Rolle Building, Drakes Circus, Plymouth, Devon, PL4 8AA
Mid-Devon Community Family Trust (MDCFT) 