Exploring Harmful News Media Depictions of Autistic Filicide Victims in Canada


Hannah Walsh, Queen's University; Jennifer Silcox, King's University College at Western University

Inspired by disability scholars’ work identifying the harmful media representations of the killing of autistic victims, we examine news media portrayals of the murders of three autistic children by their parents in Canada. To do this, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of news articles (n=56), which revealed that filicide involving autistic child victims was often framed as an isolated event. Many victims were labelled as ‘difficult’ or ‘aggressive’ and were blamed for the violence inflicted on them. Unlike the victims, the parent perpetrators were often humanized, and their actions were justified with the suggestion that the children precipitated the violence. This study adds to the scant literature surrounding media portrayals of disability hate crimes by demonstrating how crimes against autistic children are often not situated within broader structures of ableism and inequality.

This paper will be presented at the following session: