Women, Disability, and Feminism: Notes toward a New Theory

Discussions of the impact of disability on women almost always reveal troubled relationships between disabled people and the women who care for them, whether the caregivers are intimates or professionals. Often there are similarly troubled relationships among caregiving women themselves. These problems are intricately connected to other difficulties with sisterhood that have been more directly addressed in feminist theory. My own experience as the mother of a young woman with both physical and mental disabilities is not reflected at all in feminist literature, even though mother-daughter relationships are often discussed there.1 Likewise, in literature about disabilities, the feminist implications of our situation are seldom addressed. When Jennifer became an adult and she and I had to work to understand what that means to someone who is mentally retarded and dependent, I looked for ways of integrating my feminist philosophy with our struggle for survival. What I have learned has important implications for feminist theory, partly because the experience of women with disabilities and of those who care for them is so deeply felt. The emotional depth that resonates in the best feminist theory is intrinsic to our lives. Relationships among women in the care and treatment of disabled people are greatly complicated by social expectations about handicapped people, about women (especially mothers and daughters), and about professional caregivers. All of these expectations, often deeply internalized, are closely related to stereotypes of femininity and are quite handicapping both for the woman with disabilities and for the woman who cares. On the other hand, women's traditional values and morality provide a potential for great strength in these relationships and for an important expansion of feminist theory.