Accepting Diversity Before Fighting for Inclusion: First Moments of the Family After the Disability Diagnosis

Announcing the diagnosis of a disability constitutes a psycho-traumatic experience for parents. At the stage of diagnosis, the family experiences emotions that range from surprise and doubt to awareness of the situation. This chapter presents the case study of a family that receives the announcement of the diagnosis of their child with autism, which is automatically placed in the spectrum of diversity. At this point, it is worth noting that the social approach of disability places the individual in the context of the diversity so, adopting the above rationale, this chapter presents the diagnosis process in detail, the events as narrated by the parents but also the feelings that the parents had at that time. The results of this study demonstrated issues related to family stress levels, quality of life, the couple relationships, and a number of needs that arose.