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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: [email protected]