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

McCarthy, Michelle

doi:10.1332/239868019x15475690594298

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…This last theme was made up of four studies [ 167 , 168 , 169 , 170 ], all of which were published after 2019. All were qualitative, and the results were obtained through in-depth or semi-structured interviews.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Pérez-Curiel

Sánchez

Morán

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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Although sexuality, reproductive health, and starting a family are human rights that should be guaranteed for all citizens, they are still taboo issues for people with intellectual disability (ID), and even more so for women with ID. This paper systematically reviews the current qualitative and quantitative evidence on the rights of people with ID in regard to Articles 23 (right to home and family) and 25 (health, specifically sexual and reproductive health) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). A systematic review of the current literature, following PRISMA 2020, was carried out in ERIC, PsychInfo, Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and Web of Science. In all, 151 articles were included for review. The studies were categorized into six themes: attitudes, intimate relationships, sexual and reproductive health, sexuality and sex education, pregnancy, and parenthood. There are still many barriers that prevent people with ID from fully exercising their right to sexuality, reproductive health, and parenthood, most notably communicative and attitudinal barriers. These findings underline the need to continue advancing the rights of people with ID, relying on Schalock and Verdurgo’s eight-dimensional quality of life model as the ideal conceptual framework for translating such abstract concepts into practice and policy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mothers with ID participating in the studies included in this theme [ 167 , 168 ] were threatened by domestic violence, and neither of the two articles focused on positive experiences. For many of the participants, domestic violence also marked the beginning of their motherhood (e.g., violent conceptions).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Pérez-Curiel

Sánchez

Morán

et al. 2023

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tactics involving children were also reported, similarly to women without disability. These included refusing to support parenting, being humiliated, degraded, and sexually assaulted in front of children, and physical violence resulting in miscarriage and the death of children ( McCarthy, 2019 ; Meskele et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These examples of coercive control, isolation and emotion abuse make clear the particular ways in which perpetrators draw on wider social attitudes, norms, and notions of disability-related vulnerability to both abuse and further alienate WWD. McCarthy (2019 , p. 108) noted women with learning disabilities were so often considered isolated, it had become a tacit fact, but that this “state of social isolation does not arise out of nowhere” and is rather “engineered by the domestic violence perpetrator. .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Lived Experience of Family and Domestic Violence Against Women With Disability: A Scoping Review

Walter,

Chung,

Waters

et al. 2023

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

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This article reports on a scoping review exploring understandings of family and domestic violence (FDV) against women with disability (WWD) within the literature and constitutes the second article in a two-part series, the first critiquing the categorization and measurement of FDV and disability. We report findings from qualitative studies included in the review, predominantly interpretivist and critical in orientation. The scoping review included 43 articles, 15 of which are included here, as they draw upon data directly from the perspectives of WWD. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, utilizing both inductive and deductive coding, and consultation between the authors. The analysis highlighted experiences of disability-based abuse, the nexus of ableism and sexism within the everyday, and meanings of justice and resilience for WWD. Disability-based abuse was perpetrated primarily by intimate partners, including financial and physical disability-based abuse, and was used to exploit and perpetuate situations of isolation. Sexist and ableist expectations, assumptions, and attitudes converged in everyday encounters within the community, with workers and systems. However, WWD reported strategies of resistance, healing, coping, and moving on in the aftermath of FDV and indicated what can be done to promote justice, both personally and within systems. The findings were discussed drawing on Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition to highlight the mechanisms by which recognition and respect can be enhanced to enable full access to citizenship, in particular, for WWD to live free from violence.

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“…Many of the studies we examined ( N = 12) found that mothers experiencing IPV were considerably isolated from family, friends, and community. Some studies showed how this was a tactic of abusers to further their control over women, and the loss signified diminished practical and emotional help with children (McCarthy, 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Do We Know After Decades of Research About Parenting and IPV? A Systematic Scoping Review Integrating Findings

Sousa

Siddiqi

Bogue

2021

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

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This systematic scoping literature review synthesizes scholarship about intimate partner violence (IPV) and parenting into a conceptual model. We integrate findings from across 136 studies. To be included, studies had to consider how IPV influenced one’s parenting and/or how parents responded to the violence they encountered in terms of their practices related to their children. Studies had to be peer-reviewed, empirical articles, done using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods, and published in English. There were no limits on the dates or locations of studies. Using these predetermined criteria, authors screened over 6,000 articles, finally selecting 136 studies to be coded and analyzed. Results demonstrate IPV undermines maternal well-being and parenting practices. Our findings also highlight multiple ways that mothers struggle to realize the complex tasks of parenting within IPV, including through emotional coping, action-based coping, and social support. By systematically bringing together and analyzing existing data on the topic, this study helps build the knowledge base around how women facing IPV plan for physical and psychological safety of themselves and their children. IOur synthesis of the literature helps expand theoretical frameworks, and stregthen prevention practices and policies so they reflect both the suffering and the resilience of mothers who grapple with IPV. Our review draws attention to the need to focus interventions on promoting the mental health and parenting self-efficacy of mothers who suffer from the direct effects of IPV and its attacks on their mental health and parental role.

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

Abstract: The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

The Right to Sexuality, Reproductive Health, and Found a Family for People with Intellectual Disability: A Systematic Review

Exploring Lived Experience of Family and Domestic Violence Against Women With Disability: A Scoping Review

What Do We Know After Decades of Research About Parenting and IPV? A Systematic Scoping Review Integrating Findings

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