Love and resistance of mothers with intellectual disability from ethnocultural communities in Canada

Abstract

The women in this study employed strategies of resistance, sometimes at great personal cost, to provide their children with a better life.

The double‐edged sword of vulnerability: Explaining the persistent challenges for practitioners in supporting parents with intellectual disabilities

“…Like other groups of marginalized parents such as young mothers, they attempt to create "positive parenting narratives" (McDermott & Graham, 2005) in order to be perceived to be doing things in line with social expectations (Llewellyn & McConnell, 2010). These "resistance strategies" (Pacheco & McConnell, 2017) attempt to challenge the cultural stereotype of women (or parents) with intellectual disabilities as passive, dependent and in need of protection that underpins assumptions about people with intellectual disabilities being unfit parents.…”

‘All I wanted was a happy life’: the struggles of women with learning disabilities to raise their children while also experiencing domestic violence

“…However, their experiences are occasionally reported in broader qualitative studies ie those which deal with domestic violence against women with learning disabilities (e.g. Walter-Brice et al 2012) and those which deal with mothers with learning disabilities who lose custody of the children (Baum andBurns 2007, Pacheco andMcConnell 2017). In the Walter-Brice et al (2012) study of five women with learning disabilities in the UK who had experienced domestic violence, two were mothers who experienced a range of abusive acts, including physical, sexual and psychological abuse including harassment, threats (including threats to kill their children) and post relationship re-victimisation.…”

“…In the Pacheco and McConnell (2017) study of eight mothers with learning disabilities in Canada, all had experienced some form of physical, psychological, sexual or financial abuse and half of the sample had lost one or all of their children to the care system. Some women reported not only a lack of support from family and statutory services, but also positive encouragement from both sources for them to remain with their violent partners.…”

Parents and parenting with intellectual disabilities: An expanding field of research

“…A more recent development in the field is research focusing on the oppression faced by, and the resistance strategies of parents (or more specifically, mothers) with intellectual disabilities (see Traustadóttir & Sigurjónsdóttir, ). As Pacheco and McConnell argue in this special issue, the accumulation of such research is vital to the task of challenging and ultimately breaking down the cultural stereotype of women with disabilities as passive, dependent and in need of protection, that underpins the assumption that women with intellectual disabilities are unfit to be mothers. Pacheco and McConnell contribute to this nascent literature with their examination of the lives of eight mothers with intellectual disabilities from ethnocultural communities in Canada.…”

“…As Pacheco and McConnell argue in this special issue, the accumulation of such research is vital to the task of challenging and ultimately breaking down the cultural stereotype of women with disabilities as passive, dependent and in need of protection, that underpins the assumption that women with intellectual disabilities are unfit to be mothers. Pacheco and McConnell contribute to this nascent literature with their examination of the lives of eight mothers with intellectual disabilities from ethnocultural communities in Canada. Although these women experienced violence and domination (physical, sexual, psychological and financial), the study finds that these women were not passive victims: “woven through the women's life stories were examples of everyday, overt and covert resistance.” Another Canadian study included in this special issue reveals mothers with intellectual disabilities as active agents, specifically in relation to making infant feeding decisions.…”