Parenting and disability

With parenting receiving greater recognition within the disability movement, continuing debates about the role of children in caring for parents, and the development of social policies that emphasise parent support, the role of disabled people as parents has attracted the interest of both researchers and policy makers. This book reports on the first substantial UK study of parenting, disability and mental health. It examines the views of parents and children in 75 families. Covering a broad spectrum of issues facing disabled parents and their families, "Parenting and disability": provides a comprehensive review of relevant policy issues; explores the barriers to full participation in parenting that disabled parents face; examines the complex ways in which broader social divisions, including gender and socioeconomic status, interact with disability; and advocates measures to support disabled parents and their families by promoting and supporting relationships within the family. The book is aimed at a wide audience, including students and academics in social policy, social work, disability studies, sociology, education, and nursing, people working in the voluntary sector, disabled activists and their supporters, as well as policy makers and practitioners in a range of statutory agencies.