Mothering Speical Needs: A Different Maternal Journey Book

Foreword     9
Prologue     11
Introduction     15
Why mothers?     16
Gendered care work     17
Mothers as subjects     18
Feminist ethnography     20
Outline of chapters     22
The Challenge of Maternal Voices     25
Mothering with a difference     27
The challenge of maternal voices: the Irish context     30
'Mother power': the rise of the disability movement     33
1980s: new efforts based on old thinking?     34
Marie O'Donoghue     35
Kathy Sinnott     37
Disability Bill: published and withdrawn     38
The hypocrisy of the Special Olympics     39
Ireland in the international context     40
Rights-based legislation: Sweden one step ahead     42
The Disability Act 2005: another fundamental flaw?     45
Conclusion     46
Maternal Coping     49
Knowing from the beginning: Down syndrome     50
Early years worries: moderate to severe learning disabilities     54
After years of searching: the relief of a diagnosis     56
Intelligent but socially excluded: children with Asperger syndrome     62
Maternal stress and severe learning disability: always at a toddler stage     66
Mothers' different ways of coping     69
Professionals: helpful or adding to the stress?     74
Conclusion     84
Maternal Work and Employment     87
Staying at home: a positive choice     87
Work outside the home: a needed income     92
Maternal work: becoming a full-time teacher     96
Maternal work: extraordinary support     102
Fighting for services: another full-time job     104
Extended care in the wider community     109
Mothering special needs: a never ending job?     111
Conclusion     116
Mothers' Relationships with Fathers, Families and Social Networks     121
The father: the second carer     121
Gendered ways of thinking     127
Family life: a struggle     133
Avoiding the gaze of the public     136
Keeping a distance: extended families     138
The notion of the 'good' mother     140
Catholic values and children with special needs     145
The choices of having more children: amniocentesis and abortion     151
Conclusion     156
A Different Maternal Journey - Conclusion     161
Life goes on: but with a difference     161
The 'war' with professionals: becoming resilient agents     163
Extraordinary mothering: an alternative resilience?     164
Sharing the care with the mother     167
The social construction of motherhood     169
Reconstructing maternal subjectivities     171
The ambivalence of mothering     174
Conclusion     176
Epilogue     179
Profile of Participants     181
Useful Contacts     183
Books by Mothers of Children with Special Needs     187
References     189
Subject Index     199
Author Index     205