Interviews with 42 visually impaired mothers found no significant relationship between the degree of visual impairment and the amount of advance preparation for child care tasks, trial-and-error learning, or initial reactions to the mothers’ pregnancy. The totally blind mothers thought that more information on childbirth and parenting was available than did the mothers with some residual vision. The mothers’ key concerns were their children's safety, the extra time needed to accommodate the impairment, transportation, and handling the reactions of others.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsonL., AlsH., TronickE., & BrazeltonT. B. (1977). The development of social reciprocity between a sighted infant and her blind parents: A case study. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 16, 194–207.
2.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, P.L. 101–336, sec. 2, 104 Stat. 328 (1991).
BransonR. K. (1975). The blind mother. American Journal of Nursing, 75, 414–416.
5.
BuckF. M, & HohmannG. (1983). Parental disability and children's adjustment. Annual Review of Rehabilitation, 3, 203–241.
6.
CohenL. J. (1998). Mothers’ perceptions of the influence of their physical disabilities on the developmental tasks of children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, California School of Professional Psychology, Alameda.
7.
DeshenS., & DeshenH. (1989). Managing at home: Relationships between blind parents and sighted children. Human Organization, 48, 262–267.
8.
DicaprioN. S. (1971). Factors affecting the child's evaluation of the visually handicapped parent. New Outlook for the Blind, 65, 181–186.
9.
KelleyS. D., SikkaA., & VenkatesanS. (1997). A review of research on parental disability: Implications for research and counseling practice. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 41, 105–121.
10.
KendrickD. (1983). Invisible barriers: How you can make parenting easier. Disabled USA, 1, 17–19.
11.
KirshbaumM., & RinneG. (1985). The disabled parent. In AurenshineM. & EnriguezM. (Eds.), Maternity nursing: Dimensions of change (pp. 645–669). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
12.
OlkinR. (1999). What psychotherapists should know about disability.New York: Guilford Press.
13.
PollardR. Q., MinerI. D., & CioffiJ. (2000). Hearing and vision loss. In FrankR. G. & ElliottT. R. (Eds.), Handbook of Rehabilitation Psychology (pp. 204–234). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
14.
SpanierG. B. (1976). Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, 15–28.
15.
SpanierG. B., & ColeC. L. (1974, October). Toward clarification and investigation of marital adjustment. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations, Toronto.
16.
TrupinL., SebestaD. S., YelinE., & LaPlanteM. P. (1997). Trends in labor force participation among persons with disabilities, 1983–1994. Disability Statistics Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
17.
WareM. A., & SchwabL. O. (1971). The blind mother caring for an infant. New Outlook for the Blind, 65, 169–174.
18.
WatkinsC. (1995). Beyond status: The parental rights of persons labeled developmentally disabled and the Americans with Disabilities Act. California Law Review, 83, 1415–1475.
19.
WrightB. A. (1983). Physical disability: A psychosocial approach (2nd ed.). New York: Harper & Row.
