Feminist Psychology and Women with Disabilities

Toward a More Just Feminism

The history of the women’s movements and women’s involvement in civic causes and actions shows that commitment to women’s causes is no guarantee that other human rights issues will be supported. Instances of racism and other prejudices that have impacted women’s groups in the United States will be used to illustrate the contradiction, and corollary patterns from the present will be used to show that the disconnect between promoting women’s causes and other pressing human rights issues remains. I will use the exemplar of citation practices as one aspect of contemporary professional behavior that may contribute to the ongoing invisibility of accomplishments by women and scholars of color of any gender. I will also demonstrate some tools that, combined with better self-awareness, can improve the visibility of all members of underrepresented groups. The challenge we face is to convert awareness of the complex intersections between gender and racial issues into the application of feminist values across the full spectrum of human experience.

Body mass index among Special Olympics athletes from Muslim majority countries: Differences in gender and adult status

BACKGROUND

Obesity is higher in adults with intellectual disability than in the general population and for women more than men. Past research however has specifically focused on individuals with intellectual disability in the United States and the United Kingdom with little attention on individuals with intellectual disability in Muslim majority countries.

METHOD

The present study examined differences in body mass index (BMI) among 1314 men and women Special Olympics athletes from 32 Muslim majority countries in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Athletes' gender, adult status (minor or adult) and the interaction between gender and adult status were used to predict increases in BMI with a hierarchical linear regression, where athletes were nested within country controlling for athletes' nation's Gross-domestic product.

RESULTS

Being female significantly predicted an increase in obesity while adulthood predicted a decrease in BMI. The interaction between gender and adulthood was also significant, however, indicating that obesity decreases with adulthood only for men. For women, BMI continues to increase with age.

CONCLUSIONS

This study extends our knowledge on one important indicator of health status for individuals with intellectual disability in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. The results may be used to inform health care practices with individuals with intellectual disabilities and stimulate future research to understand contextual factors contributing to health disparities.

How Polish Women With Disabilities Challenge the Meaning of Motherhood

In this qualitative study, I offer a feminist reflection on motherhood from the perspectives of 25 women with various types of physical and sensory disabilities. Disability was treated not only as an individual experience but also as a social construct. I conducted 25 non-standardised narrative interviews with women with various types of physical disabilities. Using grounded theory method, with a particular emphasis on symbolic interactionism, I identified three important themes from the non-standardised narrative interviews: the effects of insufficient health care on pregnant women, the lack of acceptance and support for mothers, and a welfare system inadequate to the needs of mothers. These themes affect the way Polish women with disabilities experience motherhood. Findings highlight the different ways that mothers with disabilities challenge the prevailing normative categories of gender and disability and, in so doing, demythologise and delegitimise the traditional Polish model of motherhood. While this study points to needed reforms in Poland to support women with disabilities, it also reveals a model of motherhood based on interdependence and mutual care. The women with disabilities in this study identify new possibilities for all families.

Women's health and behavioral health issues in health care reform

As health care reform promises to change the landscape of health care delivery, its potential impact on women's health looms large. Whereas health and mental health systems have historically been fragmented, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates integrated health care as the strategy for reform. Current systems fragment women's health not only in their primary care, mental health, obstetrical, and gynecological needs, but also in their roles as the primary caregivers for parents, spouses, and children. Changes in reimbursement, and in restructuring financing and care coordination systems through accountable care organizations and medical homes, will potentially improve women's health care.

“Does That Make Me A Woman?”

Feminist scholars and activists writing about breast cancer care among women have highlighted the sexist and heterosexist assumptions often embedded in the medical management of breast cancer, and of mastectomy in particular. Despite these contributions, and some speculation that sexual minority women may be less interested in breast reconstruction, limited research explores sexual minority women’s lived experience of mastectomy and decision making about reconstruction. Thirteen lesbian and/or bisexual women who had undergone mastectomy for treatment of breast cancer participated in individual qualitative interviews exploring decisions to have, or not have, breast reconstruction. Reasons for/against reconstruction reflected themes identified in prior studies among heterosexual women. Although participants described sexual, gender, and political identities and orientations as influences on their decision making, for most participants, experiences with physicians who encouraged reconstruction and concerns about stigmatization of illness in romantic, professional, and social contexts were also central. Findings are interpreted through feminist dis/ability, medicalization, and existential frameworks.