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Parents with learning disabilities: a review of the literature
Author(s) -
Sheerin Fintan
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of advanced nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.948
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1365-2648
pISSN - 0309-2402
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1998.00636.x
Subject(s) - emotive , eugenics , normalization (sociology) , psychology , developmental psychology , subject (documents) , learning disability , epistemology , sociology , social science , computer science , political science , philosophy , library science , law
Parenting by learning disabled persons is a highly emotive issue, eliciting arguments from both extremes. Many of the arguments against such parenting have their basis in eugenic theory, whereas those in favour, often cite human rights declarations, and philosophies such as ‘normalization’. This review of the literature describes the chronological development of theory on the subject, spanning 1900 to the present day. It has become clear that, whereas parents with learning difficulties may be more predisposed to having problems, they can indeed perform as adequate parents, given appropriate training and support. This paper traces the development of current theory, through an in‐depth discussion of the available literature.