This article reports on a study, utilising phenomenological methodology, which used interview and video narratives to collect data from 10 young people with autism and their parents. Data analysis employed multistage, primarily ethnomethodological methods in order to interpret and understand experiences of autism. The study found that parents, arguably influenced by the medical and psychological perspectives through which ‘autism’ has evolved, problematise what children with autism do as pathological. This article juxtaposes parents’ understandings against how children with autism, themselves, account for what they do, by exploring respective accounts of children’s obsessions and ritualistic behaviours.