Advancing sociological understanding of felt and enacted stigma through the experience of mothers raising children with disabilities in Nigeria

Abstract

A longstanding sociological tradition of stigma research has highlighted its salience and consequences, both for children with disabilities and their parents. Yet, while it is recognised that forms of stigma are embedded in structural conditions and social context, understanding of how disability-related stigma plays out is overwhelmingly restricted to high-income countries. This is despite the fact that the prevalence of child disability is higher, and the associated economic and social challenges more severe in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This article advances sociological understanding of disability-related stigma and its consequences through thematic analysis of interviews with 22 mothers of children with disabilities in Nigeria. We analyse how their experience is embedded in the structural features of their society, an LMIC marked by high inequality, constrained state schooling, and an absence of disability support. We show how these conditions help perpetuate forms of felt stigma rooted in dominant cultural understandings of disability that serve to isolate mothers, and forms of enacted stigma typified by children’s educational and social exclusion. We further explore how mothers negotiate these attitudes and behaviours. Our findings show both concordance with and difference from existing sociological studies of disability-related stigma, demonstrating the relevance of attending to salient but under-researched settings.