Practicing Resilience Raising disabled children in poverty

Ashley Thomson

Background: Families raising children with disabilities are more likely to experience financial hardship.

Not only are parent-carers less likely to be employed, they also face additional costs associated with

specialized equipment and services. Little is known about how parents who are raising disabled children

while living in poverty navigate social services, and practice resilience. Aim: To gain a deeper

understanding of the adaptive strategies that families employ, and the resilience they practice.

Method: Narrative interviews were conducted with parents raising disabled children while living in

poverty. A thematic analysis of parent stories, informed by ecocultural theory, was then undertaken.

Results: The process of navigating different social service systems to acquire resources is as much a part

of parent´s daily routines as many other direct care-giving activities. Strategies included careful

management of relationships with service providers, forming communities of support with other

parents of disabled children, and choosing to be unemployed in order to gain access to the social health

benefits that their children require.

Conclusion: Social policy and procedures involved in navigating support systems may perpetuate the

relationship between child disability and family poverty. A whole of government approach is needed to

break the poverty cycle and enable families to effectively juggle work and family and caregiving.

Invited presentation at the Nordic Network for

Disability Research 11th annual Conference

Reykjavík, Iceland May 27 – 28, 2011

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79% worry that food will run out

73% unable to pay their rent in the past year

78% phone service disconnected

94% cut or skipped meals due to money

Emerson & Hatton, in press; Parish et al., submitted

Practising Resilience

Maintaining relationships with professionals

Building communities of shared experience

Paying for opportunities

Forced unemployment

Teaching resilience

• Work ethic

• Empathy

• Budgeting

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“As soon as I find somebody with a special needs child, I’ll say ‘okay this is what you do and this

is how you ask. This is what, you know, this is the process…’ because you don’t want to be

labelled nasty, but you have to present to the worker, you have to be able to convince her to

convince her supervisor that you need the funding and if you come with this information it helps

that you are not just convincing her you are giving her the tools to convince her supervisor why

you need more.”

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Parent/Employers Responsibilities…

• Canada Revenue Agency

• Alberta Employment Standards

• Worker’s Compensation Board

• Financial and Payroll Responsibilities

• Alberta Occupational Health and Safety

• Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship

• Liability Insurance

• Legal Advice

Photos by Reza Marvashti

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/12/31/childhood-poverty-in-colorado/602

Ashley Thomson, MSc (OT)

Family and Disability Studies Initiative

Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta

Email: thomson5@ualberta.ca