Women and Family Care: On the Gendered Nature of Caring.

This paper challenges the traditional view that, in families of children with disabilities, mothers have the primary responsibility for child care because they are the "natural" caregivers. Family support services are an emerging way of delivering services to families of children with disabilities, and they seem to operate within a framework that accepts the traditional view of women as the "natural" caregivers. The rationale for family support programs focuses on the cost savings of providing care at home and the support of traditional family values. Caring, in its three identified forms (taking care of the child, caring about or loving the child, and caring about what happens to people with disabilities in general), is considered women's responsibility. Cultural stereotypes of men and women have significant influence on the way family support services are provided, and on the way that service providers view mothers and fathers of children with disabilities. The paper concludes that the disability rights movement and the women's movement may be in serious conflict, and that the disability field needs to develop a more sensitive perspective on women's issues to further efforts to achieve full community integration of people with disabilities. (JDD)