Women With Intellectual Disabilities

A comprehensive exploration of issues affecting the lives of women with intellectual disabilities, this book examines how they have found a place for themselves in families, in relationships, at work and in communities. It consists of their stories, written by themselves or by those close to them, and of qualitative research on particular areas of their lives. It takes an international perspective, including contributions from women living in Europe, Australia, India and the US.

Women with intellectual disabilities face specific problems in writing about their lives. Some of these problems relate to their disability, others to the way they are perceived by the broader communities in which they live. These stories challenge the prevailing stereotypes about women with intellectual disabilities as a homogeneous group in need of care and protection. Throughout the book, women's experiences from different countries and cultures are represented. Their personal stories and feminist scholarship are linked together, to provide new and important perspectives on issues of gender and disability. This book will be particularly important for policy workers and practitioners in the disability field, as well as to sociologists and psychologists.