How Polish Women With Disabilities Challenge the Meaning of Motherhood

In this qualitative study, I offer a feminist reflection on motherhood from the perspectives of 25 women with various types of physical and sensory disabilities. Disability was treated not only as an individual experience but also as a social construct. I conducted 25 non-standardised narrative inte...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of women quarterly 2016-03, Vol.40 (1), p.80-95
Main Author: Wołowicz-Ruszkowska, Agnieszka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disability
Disabled persons
Feminism
Feminist psychology
Gender
Grounded theory
Health care
Interactionism
Interdependence
Meaning
Mothers
People with disabilities
Poland
Pregnancy
Psychology
Qualitative research
Reforms
Symbolic interactionism
Welfare
Women
Women's issues
Womens studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In this qualitative study, I offer a feminist reflection on motherhood from the perspectives of 25 women with various types of physical and sensory disabilities. Disability was treated not only as an individual experience but also as a social construct. I conducted 25 non-standardised narrative interviews with women with various types of physical disabilities. Using grounded theory method, with a particular emphasis on symbolic interactionism, I identified three important themes from the non-standardised narrative interviews: the effects of insufficient health care on pregnant women, the lack of acceptance and support for mothers, and a welfare system inadequate to the needs of mothers. These themes affect the way Polish women with disabilities experience motherhood. Findings highlight the different ways that mothers with disabilities challenge the prevailing normative categories of gender and disability and, in so doing, demythologise and delegitimise the traditional Polish model of motherhood. While this study points to needed reforms in Poland to support women with disabilities, it also reveals a model of motherhood based on interdependence and mutual care. The women with disabilities in this study identify new possibilities for all families.
ISSN:0361-6843
1471-6402
DOI:10.1177/0361684315600390