Developing a Disability Legal Consciousness: The Influence of Race on Parental Advocacy

• In Event: 1517 - Section on Disability and Society Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Politics, Organizations, and Social Change

Abstract

This project examines the development of a disability rights perspective among Latino and White parents of children with disabilities. The voices of Latino parents (or mothers), voices of parents of color, immigrant parents, and parents with limited economic resources are underrepresented in disability studies and the literature on parenting kids with disabilities. Generally, even parents of children with disabilities rely on the dominant medical model where disability is understood as a personal problem and not a legally protected social category. Importantly, this study demonstrates how the intersection of racism, ableism and sexism, in the context of anti-immigration policies and rhetoric, carves out a space for the development of a ‘disability legal consciousness,’ (Evans 2015) i.e. the movement from a medical to a social-model of disability. The two prior studies of disability legal consciousness have focused specifically on the employment context. This project expands on that work by examining legal consciousness in the education and healthcare systems. Furthermore, this research takes an intersectional approach by analyzing the influence of race and gender on conceptions of disability. The data from this project comes from an ongoing ethnographic study consisting of in-depth interviews and participant observation of Latino and White parent advocacy group meetings. This study contributes to our understanding of how parents of children with disabilities become advocates and challenge traditional notions of disability as an individual familial tragedy. This research adds to our knowledge of how race influences experiences of disability and how parenting children with disabilities can lead to empowerment among mothers. Finally, results from this study can help shed light on barriers to parental advocacy, needs for social support, and ways to develop a disability rights perspective among others parents and families.

Author

• Katie Warden, University of Oregon