Backbone: An Inspirational Manual for Coping with Chronic Pain by Karen Duffy
Duffy has sarcoidosis, a disorder that causes the growth of inflammatory cells on different organs of the body. In her case, her sarcoidosis is located in her brain, causing her unimaginable pain. In this powerful, inspirational, funny, and important manual for surviving pain, Duffy draws on her experience as a patient advocate, certified recreational therapist, and hospital chaplain to illuminate gratifying methods people can use to cope with chronic pain and reinforces the sentiment that "circumstances determine our lives, but we shape our lives by what we make of circumstances" (Sir John Wheeler Bennet). More than one-third of the US population--nearly 113 million Americans--is currently living with chronic pain, while another 133 million Americans live with some form of chronic illness. Half of the US population lives with the challenges of these invisible illnesses where their symptoms are not always obvious to the casual observer. Addressing a country ravaged by both chronic pain and opioid addiction, Backbone offers a salve of self-sufficiency, spunk, and perseverance.
A Celebration of Family: Stories of Parents with Disabilities by Dave Matheis (ed.)
Contains the stories of thirty families. In every family, one or both parents have disabilities: physical, mental, sensory, and/or intellectual. … Most stories concern having children through birth, but there are also stories about fostering and adopting. Four stories concern single parenthood. Many parents talk about adaptations and accommodations they made to be effective parents, but even more talk about how wonderfully adaptive their children were to their disabilities. Many parents talk about individual discrimination and societal bias they have faced. A number of stories highlight the decision-making process to have children when the possibility exists of passing on an inheritable condition. Parents are included that had children before they acquired a disability and they relate how that acquired disability affected their family. Several stories discuss legal and policy issues around parenting with a disability. The stories contain humor, compassion, and gratitude. They are proof that one thing you can get any parent to talk about is their children.
Chronic Pain and the Family by Julie K. Silver
Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States. It can demoralize and depress both patient and family, especially when there is no effective pain control and no hope for relief. Improperly managed, chronic pain can lead to substance abuse (usually painkillers) and to acute psychological and emotional distress. Pain begets stress and stress begets pain in a wretched downward spiral. Silver reviews the causes and characteristics of chronic pain and explores its impact on individual family relationships and on the extended family, covering such issues as employment, parenting, childbearing and inheritance, and emotional health. Silver treats aspects of chronic pain not covered in a typical office visit: how men and women differ in their experience of chronic pain, the effect of chronic pain on a toddler's behavior or an older child's performance in school, the risks of dependence on and addiction to pain medications, and practical ways for relatives beyond the immediate family circle to offer help and support to the person in pain.
Disability, Care and Family Law by Beverly Clough & Jonathan Herring (eds.)
Family law in modern times is often based on an "able-bodied autonomous norm" but can fit less well with the complexities of living with disability. In response, this book addresses a range of important and highly topical issues: whether care proceedings are used too often in cases where parents have disabilities; how law should respond to children who care for disabled parents; and the care of older family members with disabilities. It also considers the challenges posed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly around the different institutional and state responsibilities captured in the Convention, and around decision-making for both disabled adults and children. This interdisciplinary collection - with contributors from law, criminology, sociology, and social policy as well as from policy and activist backgrounds - will appeal to academic family lawyers and disability scholars as well as students interested in issues around family law, disability and care.
Disabled Mothers: Stories and Scholarship by and About Mothers with Disabilities by Dena Taylor & Gloria Filax (eds.)
This collection of 18 scholarly works and personal accounts from Canada, the U.S., and Australia explores and analyzes issues of parenting by mothers with a variety of physical and mental disabilities. The book delves into pregnancy, birth, adoption, child custody, discrimination, and disability politics. Noticing dominant ideas, meanings, and narratives about mothering and disability, as the contributors of this book do, exposes how the actual lives and experiences of mothers with disabilities are key to challenging cultural norms and therefore discrimination.
The Family Model Handbook: An Integrated Approach to Supporting Mentally Ill Parents and Their Children by Adrian Falkov
Presenting the Family Model approach to working with parental mental illness and its effects on family relationships, children's needs and parenting, for clinicians and managers.
Parental Learning Disability and Children's Needs: Family Experiences and Effective Practice by Hedy Cleaver and Don Nicholson
Parental Learning Disability and Children's Needs explores how to effectively assess children in families where one or more parent has a learning disability. These children often have unmet needs because their parents are more likely to be coping with mental and physical illness, domestic violence or substance abuse. The book examines current social care practice in this area, whether it is working, and the impact it has on families. The authors describe how, although some parents with a learning disability face a significant risk of losing their children, most continue to look after them and, while support provided by social services and other agencies, can be significant it is rarely sustained and the health and welfare of many children suffers as a result. Case studies and interviews from original research support the authors' recommendations for policy and practice to combat these problems. This book will prove to be an invaluable source of information for all social workers and other professionals working with someone who is both a parent and has a learning disability.
Parenting and Disability by Richard Olsen and Harriet Clarke
This book reports on the first substantial UK study of parenting, disability and mental health. It examines the views of parents and children in 75 families. Covering a broad spectrum of issues facing disabled parents and their families, Parenting and disability:provides a comprehensive review of relevant policy issues;explores the barriers to full participation in parenting that disabled parents face;examines the complex ways in which broader social divisions, including gender and socioeconomic status, interact with disability;advocates measures to support disabled parents and their families by promoting and supporting relationships within the family.The book is aimed at a wide audience, including students and academics in social policy, social work, disability studies, sociology, education, and nursing, people working in the voluntary sector, disabled activists and their supporters, as well as policy makers and practitioners in a range of statutory agencies.
Parents with Disabilities and Their Children: Rights, Barriers, Supports and Treatment by Tomas M. Braun
Despite a dark history marked by the eugenics movement, increasing numbers of people with disabilities are choosing to become parents. Recent research reveals that more than 4 million parents (six percent of American mothers and fathers) are disabled. This number will unquestionably increase as more people with disabilities exercise a broader range of lifestyle options as a result of social integration, civil rights, and new adaptive technologies. Likewise, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of veterans who are returning from war with service-connected disabilities, some of whom may already be parents and others who will enter parenthood after acquiring their disability. The right to parent without interference is protected by the U.S. Constitution and balanced by the judicially recognized power of the state to interfere to protect the well-being of its children. This book provides a comprehensive review of the barriers and facilitators people with diverse disabilities (including intellectual and developmental disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, sensory disabilities, and physical disabilities) experience when they are exercising their fundamental right to create and maintain families, with a focus on the persistent, systemic, and pervasive discrimination against parents with disabilities.
Rocking the Cradle: Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and their Children by National Council on Disability
The goal of this report is to advance understanding and promote the rights of parents with disabilities and their children. The report provides a comprehensive review of the barriers and facilitators people with diverse disabilities—including intellectual and developmental, psychiatric, sensory, and physical disabilities—experience when exercising their fundamental right to create and maintain families, as well as persistent, systemic, and pervasive discrimination against parents with disabilities. The report analyzes how U.S. disability law and policy apply to parents with disabilities in the child welfare and family law systems, and the disparate treatment of parents with disabilities and their children. Examination of the impediments prospective parents with disabilities encounter when accessing assisted reproductive technologies or adopting provides further examples of the need for comprehensive protection of these rights.
Social Relations and Chronic Pain by Ranjan Roy
This book fills the major gaps in the chronic pain literature. Although there is a universal recognition among pain experts that biological, psychological, and social factors influence the experience of pain, the social component has failed to attract much attention. Clinicians recognize the value of incorporating the social dimension in the overall evaluation and treatment of the patient. This book attempts to accomplish that task. In order to achieve that objective, this volume addresses many important elements in the patient's social environment—the most significant being the family. Beyond the family, work represents a major source of economic security and self-esteem. Job loss, common in this population and a major cause of much personal and family distress, needs critical examination. Similarly, much of the patient's energy involves dealing with formal organizations (e.g., insurance companies) which they describe as humiliating and degrading experiences. Disappointment with health professionals is pervasive since many patients do not find significant relief from their pain. This book purports to bring to the fore issues and problems that profoundly affect the sense of well-being of patients, and what actions are necessary to ameliorate their sense of powerlessness.
Spectrum Women: Autism and Parenting by Renata Jurkevythz, Maura Campbell, & Lisa Morgan
This book looks at what it feels like to be an autistic parent, offering valuable insights, knowledge and wisdom on parenting autistic and non-autistic children. Three mothers reflect on their experiences of growing up as undiagnosed autistics, venturing into and embracing motherhood, and connecting with their children in a unique and powerful way. They offer advice on overcoming the challenges of parenting when you are autistic, such as socialising with other parents or sensory issues that come with excessive touch. Reflecting on their own experiences, they also emphasize the positives of being an autistic parent to an autistic child, such as understanding of why their child is struggling or the open-mindedness that can come from not being constrained by societal norms. They also explain how out-of-the-box thinking leads to creative parenting of non-autistic children, forming strong and loving bonds. Full of wit and warm advice, this book empowers autistic parents and reassures them that autism is a strength in raising their children with love, knowledge and experience, while also giving non-autistic parents and professionals a fresh perspective on helping autistic children to thrive.
We've Got This: Stories by Disabled Parents by Eliza Hull (ed.)
How do two parents who are blind take their children to the park? How is a mother with dwarfism treated when she walks her child down the street? How do Deaf parents know when their baby cries in the night? When writer and musician Eliza Hull was pregnant with her first child, like most parents-to-be she was a mix of excited and nervous. But as a person with a physical disability, there were added complexities. She wondered - Will the pregnancy be too hard? Will people judge me? Will I cope with the demands of parenting? More than 15 per cent of Australian households have a parent with a disability, yet their stories are rarely shared, their experiences almost never reflected in parenting literature. In We've Got This, twenty-five parents who identify as Deaf, disabled or chronically ill discuss the highs and lows of their parenting journeys and reveal that the greatest obstacles lie in other people's attitudes. The result is a moving, revelatory and empowering anthology.