Redefining Responsibility: Welfare Reform, Low-Income African American Mothers, and Children with Disabilities

Mothers of children with disabilities face a variety of problems compared to other mothers, but their experiences are not universal. This thesis provides a critical analysis of caregiving and disability by examining the experiences of a group of low-income African American mothers with children with disabilities. It explores the impacts of race, class, gender, and disability on mothers' experiences in the context of conflicting employment and caregiving demands for poor women. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with ten low-income African American mothers of children with disabilities, I illustrate how the struggles of raising a child with a disability are amplified in the face of race and class inequalities. As a result, these women redefine the notion of personal responsibility and employ a series of survival strategies.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Year

2009

Author dc:creator

• Balot, Michelle Magee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Luft, Rachel E.
• Jenkins, Pamela
• Raabe, Phyllis H.

• caregiving
• disability
• gender
• race
• class
• intersectionality
• welfare reform

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/957

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1938