Burdens of Unseen Labor: Understanding Parental Mental Health Within Systemic Responsibility Displacement in Special Education

• In Event: 50221 - Section on Disability in Society Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Disability, Health, and Healthcare

Abstract

Special education is a multi-tiered system of legal support, outreach, and community connection that utilizes federal policy for state application. The process of federal policy matriculating to state application can present both challenges and the dismissal of specific community concerns that impact families and students partaking in disability and related services. This content analysis seeks to understand how the combined impact of adverse family-centered policies on labor dynamics in special education impacts parental mental health. Utilizing data such as federal policy, parental training programs, anecdotal accounts , news reports, and literature, this study seeks to highlight the impact disability policies in the United States have on the labor conditions in special education (i.e., teacher shortage) with a focus on how parents are called upon to perform essential yet unpaid labor. Special attention will be given to the disproportionate burden placed on families, focusing specifically on racially marginalized communities, who navigate the complex and often burdensome processes of advocating for their children’s educational, social, and emotional needs. Given the current political climate, resources are being removed and withheld from the public pertaining to disability and inclusion advocacy, leaving parents/guardians of children with disabilities to navigate the medical, educational, and societal infrastructures alone. This content analysis is a timely call to understand parental experiences at the person-level of parents navigating disability services at large. By examining multiple data sources through a top-down approach from federal policy, state policy, to its translation across communities, a thematic analysis will be conducted to pinpoint parental experiences at the person-level.

Author

• Melody Mann, University of Maryland