Mothers’ Advocacy for Breaking Ideological and Structural Barriers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Parental advocacy for children with disabilities has a long-standing history in U.S. public education. Since its inception, special education has relied on parents’ advocacy on behalf of their children with disabilities to lead to progressively more defined rights. COVID-19 led to remote learning, which brought new challenges and responsibilities to all parents, including parents of children with disabilities. For these parents, parent engagement and advocacy were more necessary than ever to ensure meaningful educational opportunities. Therefore, we examined mothers’ purposes in engaging in advocacy and how they advocated for their children with disabilities who attended PreK–6 public schools in the United States during COVID-19, using disability studies in education and Bourdieu’s theory on capital. Grounded in a phenomenological approach, 15 mothers of children with disabilities were interviewed via Zoom. We identified two themes revealing participating mothers’ purposes and how they advocated for their children. Mothers expressed that their privilege helped them navigate the pandemic, aided their increased levels of educational advocacy, and enabled them to support other families they considered oppressed or marginalized. They persistently engaged in “breaking barriers advocacy” for accessing learning opportunities, inclusive education, and receiving services for newly emerged needs while consistently dismantling deficit views toward their children.