Resources

My next article for Audacity Magazine, to be published in February's issue, is due very soon. And until today, I wasn't sure what I wanted to focus on this time. But then I came up with the idea of finding what's available in terms of written resources for the disabled parent. To my pleasant surprise, I did find a pretty decent sized listing of published works at the Disabled Parents Network website - an organization based out of London, England.

Listed are a collection of more than 20 published works written for, by and/or about disabled parents. Some pieces focus on pre-conception questions and issues, some discuss society's and/or legislation's views on the disabled adult as parent, some focus on the adaptive needs of the disabled parent to properly raise a child into adulthood, and a few are even written with the child's needs in mind, helping him or her to understand the disabled parent's needs and viewpoints.

Like I said, I was very pleased to come across this collection of resources. And I'm excited to delve deeper, not only into these specific publications, but also into a search for even more! I hope to take what I find and use the information in my Audacity article as a resource guide for other disabled parents.

In the mean time, I thought I'd publish this quick link to one specific resource, The Disabled Woman's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth - by Judith Rogers, OTR. Published recently - in June, 2005 - and written by a researcher (and disabled mom) at the San Francisco based organization Through The Looking Glass, this book is thoroughly researched, thoroughly accessible and thoroughly interesting. It's pages uncover the results of interviews with 90 disabled parents. From great experiences, to horrible ones, and everything in between, this book covers it all!

I read through the book's published sample chapter and found the information very easy to understand, complete and non-biased. It really seems like a wonderful resource that would be very helpful to a disabled adult considering, or living through, parenthood.

I only wish it was written a few years back, when I was considering pregnancy and searching for answers to many disability-specific questions.