Liminal still? Unmothering disabled children

Abstract

In this article we reflect on our experiences as mothers, academics and activists over the last 10 years. We explore the (limited) successes in campaigns for disabled children and young people, and offer an analysis of why such campaigning seems to be stuck in a cycle of failure. We want to move away from traditional approaches to campaigning that rely on story-telling and awareness-raising. Instead, we offer a description of a form of campaigning based on collective action and the ‘disability commons’. This takes an innovative and imaginative approach based on the common humanity of all. Finally, we call for a shift away from the mother–child dyad as the primary site of activism and call for ‘unmothering’ as a way of challenging the individualisation discourse in order to break through silos of temporality and exclusion.

Keywords:

• Mothering
• disabled children
• activism
• liminality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 For details of one such troubling example, Accessed date 1st March 2018 visit: http://www.learningdisabilityengland.org.uk/news/a-statement-following-the-inquest-into-dannys-death/.