Full Description
This book presents an in-depth discussion of how human disability and parental advocacy have been constructed in American society, including recommendations for a more authentically inclusive vision of parental advocacy. The authors provide a cultural-historical view of the conflation of racism, classism, and ableism that have left a deeply entrenched stigma-one that positions children with disabilities and children of color as less valuable than others. To redress these inequities, the authors offer a working model of co-constructed advocacy designed to benefit all families. Because advocacy is not a "one size fits all" endeavor, the authors propose meeting families where they are and learning their strengths and needs, while preparing and repositioning families to empower themselves.Book Features:
Takes a cultural-historical view that explores the reasons why individuals with disabilities are so stigmatized.
Shows how the intersection of different stigmatized identity markers, such as poverty, race, and language, have been woven into negative interpretations of "difference."
Celebrates the history of parent advocacy in the United States since World War II.
Examines how social and racial privilege have dictated which parent voices are heard.
Proposes collaborative approaches that can produce more authentic and more representative advocacy.
Explores the motivations and purposes that drive parent advocacy.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1. Constructing Meanings of Human Difference at the Intersections of Identity: Personal and Conceptual Considerations 1
The Authors' Lenses 3
DisCrit: A Lens for Viewing Family and Community Intersections 4
The Co-Construction of Advocacy 8
Overview of the Book 8
Qualitative Vignettes and Authors' Reflections 10
2. Parent Advocacy and the Challenge of Difference 13
Personal Perspectives 14
Goals and Avenues of Advocacy 16
Why Advocacy for the Value of the Child? 18
3. Constructing Race and Disabilities as Intrinsic Differences: A Cultural-Historical View 25
"Intrinsic" Attributions: From the Supernatural to Science 25
Conquest, Slavery, and Colonization: The Intertwining of Race, Disability, and "Normality" 28
Families with Developmentally Disabled Children in the 19th Century 32
The 20th Century: The Hegemony of Intelligence as a Measurable Construct 36
The 20th Century and the Disempowerment of Parents 42
4. Parent Voices Rising: Challenging Constructions of Difference 49
Advocacy and the Judges 49
Parents' Published Narratives 51
The Emergence of Advocacy Organizations 59
Exposing the Institutions 65
5. The Social Construction of Humanness 71
The Meaning of Disability 75
The Painful Contours of Parent Advocacy 77
6. Advocacy Toward the EHA: Converging Interests and Intersections 93
Parent Advocacy: The Law as the Vehicle 93
The Construction of Disability Under the Law 96
The Label as a Negotiating Tool 102
The Label as Exclusion or Confusion 107
7. Parent Advocacy Under the Umbrella of the EHA/IDEA 109
Challenges of Racism, Ethnocentrism, and Context 110
Parent Advocacy: The Law as the Obstacle 125
8. Reframing Advocacy, Repositioning the Advocate 139
De-Constructing Advocacy 140
Revisiting Our Guiding Principles 145
Co-Constructing Advocacy: Developing a New Model 151
Forging Ahead 157
The Next Chapter 158
References 161
Index 175
About the Authors 184
