Table of Contents

List of Contributors.

Foreword (Steven J.Taylor).

Acknowledgments.

Introduction (Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadóttir, David McConnell, and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir).

PART I FAMILY AND COMMUNITY LIFE

1. Becoming a Mother – Becoming a Father (Rachel Mayes and Hanna Bjorg Sigurjónsdóttir).

2. Looking Back on Their Own Upbringing (Gwynnyth Llewellyn and David McConnell).

3. Family Within a Family (Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir and Rannveig Traustadóttir).

4. Children and Their Life Experiences (Jytte Faureholm).

5. Understanding Community in the Lives of Parents with Intellectual Disabilities (Gwynnyth Llewellyn and Marie Gustavsson).

6. Citizenship and Community Participation (Brigit Mirfin-Veitch).

7. Parenting and Resistance: Strategies in Dealing with Services and Professionals (Rannveig Traustadóttir and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir).

PART II HUMAN SERVICES ENABLING AND DISABLING PARENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

8. Parenting Education Programs (Maurice Feldman).

9. Supported Decision Making for Women with Intellectual Disabilities (Sue McGaw and Sue Candy).

10. Turning Policy Into Practice (Beth Tarleton).

11. Caught in the Child Protection Net (David McConnell and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir).

12. Turning Rights into Realities in Québec, Canada (Marjorie Aunos, Laura Pacheco, and Katherine Moxness).

13. Supporting Mothers’ Community Participation (David McConnell and Gwynnyth Llewellyn).

14. Advocacy for Change: “The Final Tool in the Toolbox?” (Linda Ward and Beth Tarleton).

Conclusion: Taking Stock and Looking to the Future (David McConnell, Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Rannveig Traustadóttir and Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir).

Index.

About the Author

Gwynnyth Llewellyn is Professor and Dean of the Faculty ofHealth Sciences, University of Sydney, and Director of theAustralian Family and Disability Studies Research Collaboration.Professor Llewellyn's work led to the world's first nationalstrategy to support parents with learning difficulties and promotea healthy start to life for their young children. Rannveig TraustadA³ttir is Professor andDirector of the Centre for Disability Studies in the School ofSocial Sciences, University of Iceland. She has been one of theleaders in developing Disability Studies as a scholarly field inthe Nordic countries and is the former president of The NordicNetwork on Disability Research. David McConnell is Professor in the Faculty ofRehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta. Professor McConnellhas been conducting research in the field of parents and parentingwith intellectual disabilities in Australia for over 15 years. Heis now expanding his research program in Canada. Hanna BjA¶rgSigurjA³nsdA³ttir is an Assistant Professorat the University of Iceland. She has conducted collaborativeresearch with parents with intellectual disabilities for 15 years.Together with Rannveig Traustadttir she has published ContestedFamilies: Parents with Intellectual Disabilities and TheirChildren (1998) and Invisible Families: Mothers withIntellectual Disabilities and Their Children (2001).

Reviews

"This excellent collection of essays begins from the human rightsapproach epitomised by the UN Convention on the Rights of Personswith Disabilities ... This collection challenges policy-makers todo more and better, and provides much of the evidence to underpinsuch improvements." (Disability, Pregnancy & ParenthoodInternational, 1 September 2011) "Parents With Intellectual Disabilities: Past, Present andFutures is thought provoking worth reading for those working withfamilies with intellectual disabilities." (PsycCRITIQUES,February 2011)