Parents with Intellectual Disabilities

The first international, cross-disciplinary book to explore and understand the lives of parents with intellectual disabilities, their children, and the systems and services they encounter Presents a unique, pan-disciplinary overview of this growing field of study Offers a human rights approach to disability and family life Informed by the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) Provides comprehensive research-based knowledge from leading figures in the field of intellectual disability

List of Contributors ix Foreword xiii Steven J.Taylor Acknowledgments xvii Introduction 1 Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadóttir, David McConnell, and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir Part I Family and Community Life 15 1. Becoming a Mother – Becoming a Father 17 Rachel Mayes and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir 2. Looking Back on Their Own Upbringing 33 Gwynnyth Llewellyn and David McConnell 3. Family Within a Family 49 Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir and Rannveig Traustadóttir 4. Children and Their Life Experiences 63 Jytte Faureholm 5. Understanding Community in the Lives of Parents with Intellectual Disabilities 79 Gwynnyth Llewellyn and Marie Gustavsson 6. Citizenship and Community Participation 95 Brigit Mirfin-Veitch 7. Parenting and Resistance: Strategies in Dealing with Services and Professionals 107 Rannveig Traustadóttir and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir Part II Human Services Enabling and Disabling Parents with Intellectual Disabilities 119 8. Parenting Education Programs 121 Maurice Feldman 9. Supported Decision Making for Women with Intellectual Disabilities 137 Sue McGaw and Sue Candy 10. Turning Policy Into Practice 155 Beth Tarleton 11. Caught in the Child Protection Net 171 David McConnell and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir 12. Turning Rights into Realities in Québec, Canada 189 Marjorie Aunos, Laura Pacheco, and Katherine Moxness 13. Supporting Mothers’ Community Participation 205 David McConnell and Gwynnyth Llewellyn 14. Advocacy for Change: “The Final Tool in the Toolbox?” 225 Linda Ward and Beth Tarleton Conclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future 241 David McConnell, Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadóttir and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir Index 263