Forbidden option or planned decision? Physically disabled women’s narratives on the choice of motherhood
Abstract
This narrative study explores personal narratives by disabled women on their choice to become a mother. Eleven Finnish physically disabled mothers were interviewed. The interview data were analysed using Greimas’ actant model. The women produced three types of narratives about their journeys to motherhood: compensation, forbidden option and planned choice. In these narratives, the disabled women struggled with the disabling, oversimplifying and suppressive cultural master narratives of ‘good’ motherhood. Through the narratives, the women distanced themselves from these dominant cultural narratives and constructed strong agency for themselves as mothers.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15017419.2016.1243150 | Journal eISSN: 1745-3011
Language: English
Page range: 140 - 150
Submitted on: Nov 13, 2015
Accepted on: Sep 23, 2016
Published on: Oct 2, 2017
Published by: Stockholm University Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
© 2017 Anita Lappeteläinen, Eija Sevón, Tanja Vehkakoski, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.