The birth of a child is met with joyful celebration and well wishes from family and friends. But what if their birth or even pre-birth is met with a diagnosis of learning disability ? Very quickly the joyful celebrations are replaced with a more complicated reception, including disillusionment, fear and struggle as ableist concerns are brought to the surface.
Motivated by her own experience of having a child with Downs syndrome and finding an equal place for her daughter in the systems in which they were thrown, Caroline meets with other parents’ and records the experiences of their initial encounters of receiving a diagnosis of a child with learning disabilities. The findings are profound, challenging all of our views of what is the worth of a life and questioning how truly inclusive are we as a community.
Drawing from Caroline’s research and subsequent published article in Disability and Society (2020),‘ Learning disability imagined differently: an evaluation of interviews with parents about discovering that their child has down’s syndrome’ . We will speak with Caroline about her findings in her research and the challenges families overcame to make the decision of keeping their child, celebrating their existence and by so doing dispelling the myths of disability. Together we will reflect on ways to speak about disability that enables all and offers an invitation to belong.
Join Juliet Diener ( Founder & CEO of icandance) as she meets with Caroline Frizell to share the findings of her ongoing research on Wednesday the 3rd March from 8pm to 9pm (GMT) . Follow the link below to book your free place.