Motherhood and Disability in Context: Transgenerational, Intersectional, and Situated Narratives in Argentina (1981–2024)
摘要
Based on a qualitative study on motherhood and disability in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area between 1981 and 2024, in this chapter, we share some innovative methodological approaches that guided our project. In Argentina, civil society denounces the violation of the right to motherhood of women with disabilities, and research on inclusive education and disability points to the lack of studies on their narratives (Arellano & Soto, Educación sexual Integral y procesos anticapacitistas de transformación social. Revista Ruedes, 10, 1–14, 2023; REDI, Informe Alternativo sobre la situación de las personas con discapacidad en Argentina (2018–2022). https://redi.org.ar/informe-alternativo-sobre-la-situacion-de-las-personas-con-discapacidad-en-argentina/ , 2022). Drawing from our personal experience as a mother (second author) with disabilities and daughter (first author), we fill this gap by analyzing the experiences of 12 women with disabilities between 30 and 79 years old, from different social classes, who were mothers in the last four decades from a narrative. We utilized a transgenerational and intersectional approach, framed in Feminist Disability Studies and the sociology of care, and analyzed some dialogues through a DisCrit Mothering lens. This innovative perspective allows us to identify ruptures and continuities in the understanding of motherhood and disability in recent history, avoiding abstract diagnoses imported from the global North. It also highlights the dialogue between both fields to comprehensively understand the impact of motherhood on the life trajectories of women with disabilities and to identify forms of resistance. We share lessons learned and questions for future research.