Blog – Disabled Parents Rights

Colorado Caucuses on Tuesday

February 28, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

Colorado Caucuses on Tuesday! Go to your local caucus to vote for your preferred candidates. Caucuses are also a time to shape party platforms. Please introduce this resolution at your caucus to make Colorado a place where disabled parents do not face discrimination.

2016 Caucus Resolution

Because over 80% of parents involved in the child welfare system have one or more disabilities; and

Because disability status is not a predictor of parental fitness; and

Because Colorado statutes allow disability as a separate and distinct basis upon which the state may seize and detain children and terminate parental rights; and

Because the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits this type of discrimination on the basis of disability;

Be it resolved that Colorado should adopt an act to preserve families that include a parent with a disability by eliminating disability as a reason to terminate parental rights, and instead focus those statutes on parental actions or inactions that create unsafe homes for children.

You can download the resolution at this link.

Reconceptualizing the concept of maternity for mothers with disabilities who are unable to independently care for their children

September 4, 2015 by admin 1 Comment

Over the next several months I will be researching and writing about the concept of maternity, and how maternity for mothers with disabilities is reconceptualized when a mother is not able to independently parent their children.

Maternity is far more than birthing a child. Maternity encompasses rearing, loving, nurturing and caring for a child, a child born or adopted by the mother. The concept of maternity also includes raising a child. However, what does maternity look like when a mother is unable to be the primary figure nurturing, caring for and raising a child due to the mother’s disability?

I am not referring to mothers who use attendant care and other assistance to care for her child, but rather the mother whose disability prevents her from being able to parent her child. How do families reconceptualize maternity in that context. How are mothers involved in their children’s lives? How do the children view the mother in that context?

Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Society of Disability Studies

June 25, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

I attended the Society of Disability Studies conference that was held in the Denver Tech Center last week. I was pleased to see that there were a number of sessions addressing parents with disabilities. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these sessions were presented from the perspective of children of disabled parents, rather than from the parents themselves. A couple were presentations of interviews and dialogues between a child-academic and their disabled parent. Notably missing were the voices of parents in these sessions. This is not to say that there were not parents with disabilities presenting at the conference. A number of parents who are active in communities of disabled parents were at the conference, all of whom were presenting, but none were researching and writing about parenting with a disability. This is a voice that is notably absent in the field of disability studies.

Recent Blog Posts