Somewhere a Mockingbird 1

Women’s experiences of living with albinism in Taiwan and perspectives on reproductive decision making: A qualitative study

“…This in turn points to the need for health care professionals to have open discussions about the potential risks offering appropriate forms of support including the options to have prenatal diagnostic testing in a sensitive and caring manner taking a woman-centred approach. Previous studies have noted widespread fears about the baby's risk of inheriting the disability with disabled women being often urged to undergo screening to detect any anomalies (Kent 2000;Walsh-Gallagher, Sinclair, and Mc Conkey 2012). Women's decision to pursue or decline prenatal screening is most likely to be shaped and situated within their personal and social context of disability.…”

Rethinking disability: the social model of disability and chronic disease

“…From the beginning I learned to deal with the world as a blind person. I didn't long for sight any more than I yearned for a pair of wings…I premised my life on the conviction that blindness was a neutral characteristic^( [10], p. 57-58). Similarly, and even in regard to acquired impairment, Oliver notes that Bimpairment is, in fact, nothing less than a description of the physical body.^( [8], p. 35) Disability, by contrast, is the Bdisadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organization which takes no or little account of people who have physical impairments and thus excludes them from participation in the mainstream of social activities^( [8], p. 22).…”

How Polish Women With Disabilities Challenge the Meaning of Motherhood

“…Societal attitudes discourage mothers with disabilities from applying for services that could facilitate their mothering and force them to make huge efforts in order to show that they are able to provide care for their children (Thomas, 1997). Moreover, the societal belief that women with disabilities cannot handle responsibility, reinforced by concerns that a woman could pass on her disability to her child (Kent, 2000;Saxton, 2000), makes mothers with disabilities highly susceptible to the risk of major human rights violations, such as forced abortions (Arnade & Haefner, 2011;Asch, 2000;Kent, 2000) or forced adoptions (Kerr, 2000). Tarleton and Ward (2007) reported that only marginal support is offered to parents with learning disabilities, and in many cases it is limited to crisis interventions.…”