Parenting a child with a neurodevelopmental disability, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability or Specific Learning Disability, is itself a complex psychosocial journey through which the parent has to travel, first in early childhood and later during adolescence and adulthood. Due to a lack of awareness, institutional support and social stigma, Indian parents often report higher levels of parental stress and emotional burden. With increased educational inclusion under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, understanding the psychosocial realities of such parents is critical to create sustainable pathways toward inclusive higher education for learners with disabilities.
The study sets out to investigate the psychosocial experiences, challenges and coping strategies that parents of children with NDDs face, and it aims to identify how these experiences inform the creation of inclusive educational transitions, particularly toward higher education.
Globally, enabling learners with disabilities to access or participate in tertiary education has become an essential strategic policy focus, linking educational participation with broader social and economic concerns. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2011). Over the last ten years, the discourse on inclusive education in India has widened to include not just schooling but also transitions into higher education and occupations for learners with disabilities. Parents of children with NDDs remain the invisible architects in this journey of inclusion. Their psychosocial well-being, role of advocacy and emotional preparedness have a significant bearing on how children with ASD, ID or SLD will negotiate academic systems and strive for higher education. Worldwide, the prevalence of NDDs continues to increase, and traditional estimates now point to 1 in 127 children being diagnosed with ASD, whereas 1-3 % are diagnosed with ID and one child in every 60 being diagnosed with one or more learning disabilities (Maenner et al., 2023; World Health Organization, 2023; Pinson, 2025). Despite the existence of policy mandates such as the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016) and NEP 2020, psychosocial barriers in the form of parental stress, stigma and institutional rigidity restrict educational inclusion beyond school levels.
Parenting in such contexts entails more than the fulfilment of developmental or medical needs; it involves the navigation of administrative structures, contesting cultural misconceptions and developing self-efficacy both in the child and in oneself as a parent. Research illustrates that caregiving for children with NDDs is associated with chronic emotional distress and social isolation (Olagunju et al., 2017; Hayes & Watson, 2013). However, only the few studies investigated how these psychosocial experiences combine with aspirations for inclusive higher education. Considering the growing university-level inclusive policies in India, understanding parental psychosocial dynamics holds great potential to help bridge the gap between intent and actual participation in inclusive higher education.
This paper, therefore, explores parenting as a psychosocial process of inclusion by placing emphasis on how emotional resilience, belief in capability and engagement with institutions influence educational aspirations and transitions. It thus seeks to explore, through a phenomenological lens, parents’ living experiences to reveal deeper meanings that guide both their expectations and adaptive responses.
Thirty parents of Delhi NCR were interviewed using a self-developed Psychosocial Parenting and Inclusion Interview Schedule. The tool was validated by various professionals in the rehabilitation field. Braun and Clarke (2006) six-phase framework thematic analysis technique was used, wherein multidimensional themes of aspirational anxiety, institutional navigation burden, psychosocial empowerment, community-based coping and inclusion efficacy were identified.
The findings indicate that the parents of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities face aspirational anxiety, institutional navigation burden and emotional strain. However, psychosocial empowerment, community-based coping and a capability-oriented mindset breed resilience and optimism. Inclusive higher education is considerably dependent on parental psychosocial preparedness and belief in capability development.
These findings emphasize that nurture a child with an NDDs in India is not a caregiving duty; rather, it is an active psychosocial process shaped by emotional regulation, negotiation with institutions and aspirational meaning-making. In contrast to prior literature that highlights parental stress and stigma associated with the experience of having a child with disability (Gupta et al., 2012; Padden & James, 2017; Al-Farsi et al., 2016; Li et al, 2022; Hayes & Watson, 2013; Ha et al, 2024). The current study places parenting within the broader discourses of inclusive higher education and capability development.
6.1 Parenting as a Site of Psychosocial Transformation
The phenomenological interpretation shows that parents’ conflict between emotional vulnerability and empowerment. Most of them, through constant interaction with institutions, develop adaptive competencies such as advocacy, policy literacy and peer mentoring. This corresponds to the trajectory of transformative resilience proposed by Ungar (2019), where adversity is linked to psychosocial growth and social action. Parenting thus becomes a crucible in the development of emotional and cognitive competencies that will advance inclusive systems.
6.2 Institutional Stress and the Ecology of Exclusion
The second theme, institutional navigation burden identifies systemic shortcomings that perpetuate parental stress. Consistent with Bronfenbrenners’ Ecological Systems Theory (1979), Parents’ psychosocial realities are constituted within interactions at the microsystem-encompassing home and child, at the mesosystem-the school-community interface-and at the macrosystem, wherein policy and culture converge. Parental burnout rises with misalignment between such nested systems. Such inconsistency between inclusive policy and ground-level practice produces cognitive dissonance and emotional fatigue.
6.3 The Interaction between Empowerment and Capability
The findings also suggest that empowerment functions as a psychosocial bridge between stress and aspiration. Parents who have greater inclusion efficacy and social capital report a sense of agency that reframes disability as a context for growth. This resonates with Sen (1999) Capability Approach, the notion of empowerment expands the fundamental freedoms individuals have to achieve valued outcomes. Parents gain psychosocial resources through participation in advocacy and support networks, which influence educational aspirations for their children. Empowered parents respond to inclusive higher education as a matter not of privilege but of legitimate extension of fundamental rights.
6.4 Cultural Mediation and Spiritual Coping
Consistent with collectivist values, parents in this study relied heavily on spiritual acceptance and shared coping. Spirituality provided interpretive meaning and emotional regulation rather than the pathologising of distress as Ravindran et al. (2012) found, religious frameworks can play a culturally congruent mental health safeguard role in low-resource contexts. However, an over-reliance on pessimism may inadvertently discourage institutional advocacy. Thus, psychosocial interventions need to balance spiritual strengths with empowerment-oriented approaches.
6.5 Reframing Inclusion through Psychosocial Readiness
Perhaps the most critical finding is that inclusive higher education does not depend on institutional access alone but rather on psychosocial readiness: parents’ ability to envision, plan and navigate inclusive futures. This complicates policy assumptions about how inclusion is structured. It is the emotional preparedness of the parents, beliefs in capability and the capacity to negotiate the educational ecosystem that come to the forefront as an essential determinant for successful transitions.
This phenomenological inquiry underlines how psychosocial dimensions of parenting deeply influence the inclusion trajectory for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Parents in India navigate a complex interplay of emotional strain, cultural stigma and systemic barriers, although many of them also show remarkable psychosocial resilience and capability expansion. Their experiences also show that inclusion is not just a pedagogical or policy construct, but a psychosocial process deeply anchored in hope, advocacy and meaning-making. Jaafar et al. (2019) highlighted that even with the policy advancements, teacher preparedness and parental awareness remain crucial bottlenecks in the operationalization of inclusive education in India.
Ultimately, sustainable pathways to inclusive higher education demand a re-evaluation of parental roles from passive caregivers to empowered collaborators. Embedding psychosocial empowerment within educational and policy frameworks will go a long way in enhancing family well-being and advancing the broader vision of equity and human capability as envisioned.
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