
If you’ve ever wondered what it must be like raising a child with autism, one UK mother has lifted the veil.
“Admitting that I’m scared of my son is almost impossible and no one knows all the details of our life behind closed doors,” Sarah* recently told The Guardian.
Sharing the story of their four person family through changed names, Sarah talks of her eldest son Robbie’s severe autism and the havoc it wreaks on all of their relationships, particularly with their younger son, Joe.
“Severe autism is difficult to understand if you don’t live with it. Everything we do is centred on Robbie’s condition, which is really hard on Joe,” the mum-of-two explains.
“Joe hates Robbie and won’t listen to us trying to explain how frustrated he is at being unable to communicate and that is why he’s violent and also self harms. The tension in our house now is constant.”

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The changes the family have had to undergo over the years has also been dramatic, and offering Joe any semblance of a normal life has long disappeared.
"Our house is like a minimalist fortress with every window and door bolted, anything potentially dangerous shut away and even ornaments or pictures taken down now. The third time Robbie swept his hand across the mantelpiece and shattered everything on it I decided it wasn’t worth the bother. Robbie won’t sleep by himself and although David takes his turn at sleeping with him through the weekend, I’m completely shattered most of the time as Robbie wakes if I move at all. I can’t sleep properly and I wake constantly because I’m stiff and sore from lying in one position."
Top Comments
It must be terrifying to live this way - afraid of your own child. I just finished reading Blame by Nicole Trope and it was about a similar situation. I never realised that parents with severely autistic children might be facing this kind of violence at the hands of their own children. Blame opens a window into this complex world where I imagine parents are faced with the conflicting emotions of love for their child at the same time as being afraid of that same child. We all have bad days when our kids seem to be drawing our last ounce of patience but I think the story above explains just how tough a day it is for some parents, every day.
It must be terrifying to live this way - afraid of your own child. I just finished reading Blame by Nicole Trope and it was about a similar situation. I never realised that parents with severely autistic children might be facing this kind of violence at the hands of their own children. Blame opens a window into this complex world where I imagine parents are faced with the conflicting emotions of love for their child at the same time as being afraid of that same child. We all have bad days when our kids seem to be drawing our last ounce of patience but I think the story above explains just how tough a day it is for some parents, every day.