Mother-teacher-scholar-advocates: narrating work-life on the professorial plateau

PurposeIn this study, two mother-scholars describe their lived experiences working in higher education in the USA while parenting children with disabilities. They situate their narratives within the context of institutionalized motherhood, courtesy stigma and the career plateau experienced by many working mothers of children with disabilities.Design/methodology/approachWithin this collaborative autoethnography, the authors employ autoethnographic narrative and poetic inquiry.FindingsThe authors reveal unique work-life tensions that they have experienced as mothers, teachers and scholars, reflecting on the experiences that led them to become advocates for people and families with disabilities.Practical implicationsThe authors aim to reduce stigma and to disrupt the career plateau by offering suggestions to help coworkers and supervisors be more supportive of working parents of children with disabilities.Originality/valueThe authors enumerate the advantages of collaborative autoethnography in uncovering how stigma against mothers of children with disabilities is manifested within an academic community.

Dukungan Sosial Orang Tua Anak dengan Down Syndrome dalam Grup WhatsApp

Discrimination towards children with down syndrome is still happening. Courtesy stigma concept makes parents with down syndrome children feel discrimination. Parents are the sole social support of the child. POTADS purpose as a platform for other Indonesians’ parents and children to show their support with each other who faced the same problem. They can support it through WhatsApp group and open for anyone who faced discrimination. Phenomenology method used to find how the consciousness of four informants called by Mrs. Leli, Mrs. Ni Luh, Mrs. Ernie, and Mrs. Nunung in using POTADS WhatsApp group. The conscious experiences will create an interpretation of it. In-depth interviews were conducted to obtain research data. The result shows that this group is beneficial because, in addition to being able to get useful information support for childcare, they also get the emotional support that is useful as a shield against courtesy stigma. The support they get from the WhatsApp group is further enhanced when there is a face-to-face meeting.

"Get Your Child in Order:" Illustrations of Courtesy Stigma from Fathers Raising Both Autistic and Non-autistic Children

Parents of autistic children report relatively high levels of parenting stress that includes experiencing stigma. Yet, research about stigma experienced by parents of autistic children is limited, and in particular, fathers' experiences are rarely documented. The purpose of this study is to illuminate courtesy stigma experiences of fathers of autistic children. We conducted a secondary analysis of narrative data from a subset of 16 fathers raising both autistic and non-autistic children. Fathers participated in in-depth interviews about successes and struggles in raising autistic children. Fathers experienced "felt stigma" in forms of censorship, isolation, guilt and defying stigma. Fathers navigate ableist stereotypes, which are interwoven with stereotypes of traditional masculinity. Fathers defy stigma but are also part of processes that perpetuate stigma. Further, understandings of the complexities of courtesy stigma are needed, particularly through studies that target fathers from diverse cultural, racial, family structural and socio-economic backgrounds.