‘We create our own small world’: daily realities of mothers of disabled children in a South African urban settlement

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of participating female carers and their children.

Carer	n	Child	n
Age (years)		Age (years)
21–30	6	0–5	8
31–40	9	6–10	8
41–50	6	11–15	8
51–60	4	16–20	2
>61	3	21–25	4
Missing	2
Relation to child		Gender
Mother	26	Boy	17
Grandmother	3	Girl	13
Sister	1
Marital status		Type of disabilitya
Single	10	Cerebral palsy	16
Relationship, not living with partner	5	Cannot walk, talk, sit	5
Relationship, living with partner	10	Cannot walk	1
Divorced	1	Down syndrome	1
Widowed	4	Blind	1
Highest level of education		Slow learner	1
Primary	5	Special need	1
Secondary	21	Spinal cord injuries	1
Vocational training	1	Left side does not work	1
College	1	Prader-Willi syndrome	1
Missing	2	Mental disability and seizures	1
Number of household members
Mean	5.1
Median	5
Average monthly income (South African Rand)
<2000 (± £98,=)	17
2001–4000	6
>4000 (± £195,=)	1
Missing	6
Most important source of income
Own job	5
Own income-generating activities	2
Other household member’s job	4
Learnership	1
Social grant	18

^aIn carers’ words (although the given types of disabilities might not be in line with language guidelines, we consciously chose to show the terms carers used on our demographics questionnaire).

Figure 1. Example of a social atom drawn by a female carer indicating all actors who provide support (replicated digitally by authors for readability purposes).