Ordinary or Not? Families of Children Growing Up with Disabilities

Abstract

Nearly all disabled children in the Nordic countries grow up with their families — their parents and siblings. And like all other children, the lives of disabled children are strongly interwoven with those of their families. The purpose of this chapter is to address disability and childhood from a family perspective. The chapter’s approach differs, however, from the main bulk of research on families with disabled children. This research has been described as moving from a focus on crisis, stress and mental health challenges to an exploration of coping, variation and resilience (Ferguson, 2002; Lundeby, 2008; Seligman, 1999). The main body of research in the field is nevertheless on parental mental reactions with a psychological profile. This chapter will, instead, address the impact of disability on more sociological aspects of family life.