Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir

Parents with intellectual disabilities : past, present and futures

List of Contributors. Foreword (Steven J.Taylor). Acknowledgments. Introduction (Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadottir, David McConnell, and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir). PART I FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LIFE 1. Becoming a Mother Becoming a Father (Rachel Mayes and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir). 2. Looking Back on Their Own Upbringing (Gwynnyth Llewellyn and David McConnell). 3. Family Within a Family (Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir and Rannveig Traustadottir). 4. Children and Their Life Experiences (Jytte Faureholm). 5. Understanding Community in the Lives of Parents with Intellectual Disabilities (Gwynnyth Llewellyn and Marie Gustavsson). 6. Citizenship and Community Participation (Brigit Mirfin-Veitch). 7. Parenting and Resistance: Strategies in Dealing with Services and Professionals (Rannveig Traustadottir and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir). PART II HUMAN SERVICES ENABLING AND DISABLING PARENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES 8. Parenting Education Programs (Maurice Feldman). 9. Supported Decision Making forWomen with Intellectual Disabilities (Sue McGaw and Sue Candy). 10. Turning Policy Into Practice (Beth Tarleton). 11. Caught in the Child Protection Net (David McConnell and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir). 12. Turning Rights into Realities in Quebec, Canada (Marjorie Aunos, Laura Pacheco, and Katherine Moxness). 13. Supporting Mothers Community Participation (David McConnell and Gwynnyth Llewellyn). 14. Advocacy for Change: The Final Tool in the Toolbox? (Linda Ward and Beth Tarleton). Conclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future (David McConnell, Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadottir and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjonsdottir). Index.

Analysing care-related decisions in parents of congenitally deaf children: introduction of an explanatory model

Research into issues of deafness is characterised by the dominance of the medical model of disability. Although social and cultural-linguistic models have received increasing attention from scholars, they have been used mainly in theoretical debate. Empirical application has been limited. Based on our comprehensive research project into the care-related decisions of parents of congenitally deaf children in Flanders, Belgium, an explanatory model for care-related parental decisions was constructed, which transcends the specific findings generated by our studies. This model is presented and discussed in this paper. Illustrations are provided based on our empirical findings.

Notifying Neglect: Child Protection as an Application of Bureaucratic Power against Marginalized Parents

The goal of this contribution is to bring to light some systemic applications of organizational power that occur within the child protection system in Iceland. The specific focus is on the ways in which notifications are made to the child protection system concerning allegations of parental neglect on the part of parents with disabilities and a criticism of some specific mechanisms by which these notifications may contribute to unjust custody deprivation proceedings. We suggest that accusations of bias or prejudice within the child protection system need to be grounded upon the demonstration of concrete mechanisms which illustrate this bias in practice. In this contribution, we chose to focus on the power of notifications and to explore the institutional logic and practices that can result in unjust custody deprivation decisions. A critical analysis of the knowledge production of custody deprivation is required to fully understand these process as systematic applications of power and to recognize the prob...

Stigmatic Representation of Intellectual Disability and Termination of Parental Custody Rights

This chapter will argue that the long-standing stigma toward people with intellectual disabilities which underpinned eugenic ideologies in the early twentieth century continues to influence contemporary practice and attitudes and is very much evident in child protection work. Despite the existence of a number of international human rights treaties intended to safeguard the right of people with disabilities to form relationships and have and raise children, these rights continue to remain under threat. We contend that the regulatory focus has shifted from directly governing the sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities to governing one of the potential outcomes of sexuality—children—specifically in the area of child protection and child custody proceedings.

Cultural Representation of Disability in Children’s Literature

Research indicates that people’s reactions towards disability and disabled people are based more on what we learn through popular culture than on public policy or personal encounters (Mitchell & Snyder, 2000). Attitudes are learned, and in the Western part of the world disability and impairment are not seen as something that will probably touch all of us at some stage in our life, but rather as undesirable deviations from the norm and from desirable ideals. In Western societies, the emphasis is on health, beauty, and fitness, and this emphasis is reflected in the material that we introduce our children to. This chapter explores the way disability is represented in popular children’s literature and folk tales. The purpose is to examine how disability is portrayed in children’s literature and to relate this to social attitudes towards disability.