{"id":1607,"date":"2026-08-01T08:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clara.ly-le.info\/blog\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:01:08","slug":"vietnamese-news-often-tells-autism-through-families-the-autistic-child-is-still-rarely-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clara.ly-le.info\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/08\/01\/vietnamese-news-often-tells-autism-through-families-the-autistic-child-is-still-rarely-heard\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese news often tells autism through families, the autistic child is still rarely heard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A child with autism appears in a news story because treatment was delayed. A mother describes the financial and emotional strain of care. A school is criticized for lacking trained staff. A doctor explains the diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stories can generate sympathy and public attention. But they also reveal a persistent problem in how autism is covered in Vietnam: autistic children themselves are rarely given a voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our conference paper<\/a> is an analysis of 100 Vietnamese online news articles<\/a> published between 2020 and 2024, which found that coverage relied heavily on emotional family stories and narratives about parental responsibility, while structural issues such as education systems, disability rights, public policy, and social inclusion received much less attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Most Common Story Is About a Family in Difficulty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than half of the articles, 55 percent, used what researchers call a \u201chuman-interest\u201d frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stories typically focused on children and their families: missed opportunities for treatment, the difficulties of raising a child with autism, or efforts to help children participate in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This style has an obvious strength. Personal stories make autism understandable to readers who may know little about it. They can create empathy<\/a> and bring an abstract health or social issue into everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is a cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When autism is repeatedly presented through hardship, sacrifice, and parental struggle, readers may come to see it mainly as a family tragedy rather than a complex developmental condition shaped partly by schools, health services, community attitudes, and public policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents Are Often Asked to Carry the Responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second most common frame appeared in 45 percent of the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stories focused on who was responsible for solving the problem. In Vietnamese coverage, that responsibility was often placed on parents and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Articles might call for parents to identify symptoms early, seek intervention, or find appropriate education. Some also pointed to shortages of specialized teachers or the need for public support, but institutional responsibility was much less prominent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a highly individualized view of autism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents are presented as the people who must recognize the problem, find services, pay for care, manage behavior, and protect their children\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What receives less attention is whether schools are inclusive, whether health services are accessible, whether teachers are trained, or whether public institutions are meeting the needs of autistic children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy Failures Appear, but They Are Not the Main Story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conflict framing appeared in 25 percent of the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stories were more likely to discuss disagreements, barriers, or failures in education and policy. Some addressed difficulties autistic children face in accessing schools. Others questioned whether institutions had appropriate resources or support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This type of reporting moves autism away from the private home and into the public sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it remained secondary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moral framing, which considers questions of fairness, inclusion, and social responsibility, appeared in only 15 percent of the articles. Economic consequences, including the financial cost of treatment and care, appeared in fewer than 10 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That matters because autism affects more than individual families. Access to education, health care, social participation, and disability support are also questions about institutions and public responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families and Doctors Speak. Autistic People Usually Do Not.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The imbalance becomes even clearer when looking at who journalists quote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family members or caregivers appeared very frequently, in about 40 percent of the articles. Health professionals appeared in about 30 percent, while government officials appeared in about 25 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autistic individuals themselves appeared in only around 10 to 15 percent of stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academics were also infrequently quoted, and nongovernmental organizations appeared even less often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general public was almost absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means autism is usually explained by people around autistic individuals rather than by autistic people themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For children, direct quotation is not always simple or appropriate. Age, communication differences, consent, and journalistic ethics all matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the near absence of autistic perspectives still shapes the public meaning of autism. Readers hear what parents experience, what doctors diagnose, and what officials provide. They hear much less about what autistic people experience in schools, public spaces, relationships, or daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sympathy Dominates, but Sympathy Has Limits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tone of coverage was mostly neutral, at about 40 percent, followed by negative coverage at 35 percent. Positive stories accounted for around 25 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negative reporting often focused on hardship, exclusion, policy gaps, or stigma. Positive stories tended to appear around successful interventions, classroom inclusion, or public awareness<\/a> events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is not that journalists show suffering. Those experiences are real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem emerges when suffering becomes the dominant lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories about exceptional achievement create another distortion. Articles about autistic children with unusual talents can appear positive, but they may establish another narrow stereotype: the \u201cextraordinary\u201d autistic child who succeeds despite the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the tragic child and the exceptional child, ordinary autistic lives can disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensory Needs and Everyday Barriers Are Almost Invisible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another striking absence involved sensory differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autistic children may experience noise, touch, crowded spaces, or other sensory environments differently. Yet the articles rarely explained these experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A child might be described as \u201caggressive,\u201d \u201cstrange,\u201d or \u201cdifficult\u201d without explaining what happened before the behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was the classroom too noisy? Was the child overwhelmed? Was communication difficult? Was there appropriate support?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without that context, behavior can easily be interpreted as a personal problem rather than a response to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusive education received similarly limited attention. News stories rarely examined the practical conditions autistic children need in mainstream schools, such as trained teachers, appropriate support, or adjustments to classroom environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better Autism Journalism Requires Moving Beyond the Family Tragedy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vietnamese news coverage has helped make autism more visible. That matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next task is more difficult: making that coverage broader and more accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalists can still tell powerful family stories, but those stories should connect individual experience to education, health care, disability rights, and public policy. Expert voices should include more than clinicians. Autistic perspectives should be included whenever appropriate and ethically possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift is subtle but important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of asking only how a family is coping with an autistic child, journalism can also ask what schools, health systems, communities, and public institutions are doing to make participation possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autism is not simply a private burden carried by parents. It is also a public issue about inclusion, access, and whose experiences are allowed to define the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ly-Le, T. M.<\/strong>, Nguyen, M. H., & Nguyen, B. T. (2026). Framing of child autism in Vietnamese news media during the post-COVID-19 era. Proceedings of the \u201cDigital Convergence in Economics, Society and Technology \u2013 DCEST 2026\u201d Conference<\/em>, 248-261.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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