Disability Rights Florida Blog

Resources for Parents with Disabilities

Monday, April 08, 2024

Introduction

We often talk about resources for parents of children with disabilities. But what about resources just for parents with disabilities?   

It's a longstanding and harmful myth that adults with disabilities cannot be parents, let alone good parents. Negative stereotypes and demeaning policies and legislation put parents with disabilities in a difficult position. We don't openly talk about what it is like having a disability and being pregnant or the stigma disabled parents face in custody battles. But we need to!  

Whether you have a visible disability, invisible disability, chronic illness, or other health issues, being a parent with a disability is possible. In fact, there are lots of parents with disabilities. The National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities found that there are over 4.4 million parents who have a disability.   

Having a good support network and helpful resources makes parenting with a disability easier. Below are a few great resources for parents with disabilities. We hope they can support you in your parenthood journey.   

Green swirling logo. Text reads: National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities: Parents Empowering Parents / Padres Empoderando a Padres

National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities

The National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities (NRCPD) conducts research and provides training and technical assistance to improve the lives of parents with disabilities and their families.  

Their resources are for parents with disabilities, legal professionals, social workers, and researchers, and cover a variety of topics, including child-welfare law and its effects on parents with disabilities, firsthand narratives from disabled parents about how they raise their children, and advice for professionals working with specific populations of parents with disabilities. 

Here are some resources on the NRCPD website: 

Follow the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities on social media. 

Logo: Light and dark purple abstract circle. Text reads National Center for Disability & Pregnancy Research

National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research 

A part of the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities’s work, the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research improves disabled people’s pregnancy experiences and outcomes through research, training, and education. They developed great resources that may help you. Here are a few: 

Follow the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research on social media:  

Logo: Light and dark green circles to represent a person holding a baby. Text reads: Disabled Parenting Project

Disabled Parenting Project

The Disabled Parenting Project (DPP) is an online space for sharing experiences, advice, and conversations among disabled parents as well as those considering parenthood.  

The DPP serves as an information clearinghouse and interactive space for discussion and connection. In order to more fully understand the experiences and needs of disabled parents, the DPP also includes a digital and participatory action research (PAR) component, where parents are invited to tell their stories in their own voices through video interviews that will be uploaded and available for website visitors to discuss and learn from. 

Here are a few helpful pages on their site: 

Follow the Disabled Parenting Project on social media:  

Logo: Purple and teal person holding a baby. Text reads: Through the looking glass.

Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking Glass (TLG) is a nationally recognized center that has pioneered research, training, and services for families in which a child, parent or grandparent has a disability or medical issue. TLG is a disability community-based nonprofit organization, which emerged from the independent living movement, founded in 1982 in Berkeley, California. Their mission is "To create, demonstrate and encourage non-pathological and empowering resources and model early intervention services for families with disability issues in parent or child which integrate expertise derived from personal disability experience and disability culture." 

Here are a few of their webpages that may be helpful: 

Follow Through the Looking Glass on social media: 

Other Resources

Disability Rights Florida Podcast on Disabled Marriage and Parenting

A conversation with Heather Watkins and Dom Evans about marriage inequity, disabled relationships in the media, and disabled parenting.

Research Calls 

Seeking Participants for a Study of How Physical Disability and Race Combine to Affect Pregnancy 

About: “Black people and Latinxs/Latinas with physical disabilities have unique experiences during pregnancy. To learn about these unique experiences, we are conducting a research study. This study will help us to understand how both disability and race affected your pregnancy, which can help improve the pregnancy experience for others. If you are Black/African American and/or Latinx/Latina or Hispanic, have a physical disability, and have given birth in the last ten years, we'd like to interview you.” 

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