Expectations and reactions to disability and normality experienced by parents of children with intellectual disability

• Background: Much research has been devoted to the emotional burdens of having a child with Intellectual Disability (ID), but very little of this has focused on the burdens imposed by negative public attitudes toward disability. Adjustment has primarily been thought of as adjustment to the actual disability rather than adjustment to attitudes or prejudices toward disability. Aim: The aim of the present study was to study expectations and reactions to disability and normality experienced by parents of children with intellectual disability in their everyday life as a parent in Sweden. The research questions were: Do the parents relate to the tragedy discourse and if so how? Do parents relate to other expectations and disability discourses and if so how? What subject positions do the discourses offer? Methods: The analysis was based on seventeen semi-structured interviews with nine fathers and eight mothers of nine children with different intellectual disabilities. The children were newly diagnosed and were from 6 months to 5 years of age. Results: Four discourses (Tragedy and the lived experience, tragedy and the outsider perspective, the clinical gaze and the super-parent ideal and) and subject positions relating to these discourses are discussed. Discussion: The results of this study show that parents of young children with disabilities related to a wide range of social processes and practices which could be thought to affect their emotional well-being and parental identity negatively

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Parents

disability

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)