Introduction

This chapter examines the importance of change in the experiences of disabled parents and their families. This involves focusing on hopes and experiences of becoming and being parents, within a life-course perspective. By this we mean exploring choices and expectations around parenting, from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Parenting is often perceived as a ‘normal’ feature of independent adult life. And yet attitudes towards disabled people do not always reflect this. We argue, therefore, that a life-course perspective is vital to the debate of parenting and disability, and the policy shaped to deal with it.

The relative invisibility of disabled parents, particularly when compared to the exposure of children who have been defined as ‘young carers’, is related to the concentration of social policy on the beginning and the end of the life course. This is also reflected in approaches to the support of family life; that is, research on family transitions is largely concerned with the transition to parenthood (and the early parenting years), and transitions into adulthood. The concept of the life course is more flexible than the previous conception of the lifecycle, which presented a normative description of key stages through which each individual passed. However, the experiences of disabled people can be defined and restricted by a policy framework that continues to individualise the life course.

Our findings are intended to comment on the significance of change, both in terms of the experiences of disabled parents and their families, and in terms of the ability of formal and informal supports to respond. We have been concerned to present our examination of change in the broadest possible terms. Therefore, we have looked not only at the implications for parents of the changing needs of children as they grow up, but also at the changes that take place in family composition, and in the nature of disability impairments. Our analysis, then, highlights the importance of understanding that the experience of disability is closely linked to the changing experience of parenting, and the changing demands of the parenting role.