‘We create our own small world’: daily realities of mothers of disabled children in a South African urban settlement
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge
Abstract
Parents of disabled children face many challenges.
Understanding their experiences and acknowledging
contextual influences is vital in developing intervention
strategies that fit their daily realities. However, studies of
parents from a resource-poor context are particularly scarce.
This ethnographic study with 30 mothers from a South
African township (15 semi-structured interviews and 24
participatory group sessions) unearths how mothers care on
their own, in an isolated manner. The complexity of low
living standards, being poorly supported by care structures
and networks, believing in being the best carer, distrusting
others due to a violent context, and resigning towards life
shape and are shaped by this solitary care responsibility.
For disability inclusive development to be successful,
programmes should support mothers by sharing the care
responsibility taking into account the isolated nature of
mothers’ lives and the impact of poverty. This can provide
room for these mothers to increase the well-being of
themselves and their children.
Description
Keywords
Disabled children, Mothers, Care, Urban poor, Poverty
Citation
Elise J. van der Mark, Ina Conradie, Christine W. M. Dedding & Jacqueline E. W. Broerse (2019) ‘We create our own small world’: daily realities of mothers of disabled children in a South African urban settlement, Disability & Society, 34:1, 95-120, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2018.1511415