Resources

Pathways to parenthood

Pathways to parenthood – a resource guide on parenting for people with disability in NSW by Kerri Thorne, Joanne Hutchins and Lois Gilmour. 2007, Australia, NSW Network of Women with Disability ISBN 978 0 9803648 0 4.

This publication is assessed by two reviewers – Joanne Watson, from Victoria, Australia, who is a speech pathologist with Scope and the sister of a disabled parent, and Sue Searle, from Hertfordshire, UK, who is a disabled parent and trainer.

The NSW Network of Women with Disability has developed an information resource for disabled women who are considering parenthood.

The publication aims to reflect information that is helpful to prospective mothers with a range of experiences and backgrounds: for example, women with cognitive or psychiatric disability, or women with medical conditions like multiple sclerosis, disabled women in same sex relationships, and those from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The network involved disabled women in the development of the resource by carrying out a survey of disabled women's information needs and ideas.

Pathways to parenthood is currently available in print, electronic format and Braille, free to disabled individuals in New South Wales. NSW Network of Women with Disability is working to develop this resource as a website, which will have the capacity to be updated on a regular basis and have international appeal.

For more information contact:

NSW Network of Women with Disability

E-mail: women@mdaa.org.au

Telephone: +61 1800 629 072

Comprehensive and timely

This resource has been developed in response to a growing awareness of the need within Australia to support its many disabled parents. There appears to be a societal belief that resources such as Pathways to parenthood are not needed because disabled parents simply do not exist. In my experience, this dearth of resources, services and support has left disabled parents extremely isolated. I believe that disabled Australians and their supporters will welcome this publication.

The three authors are all women with varying levels of disability – well placed to write this guide in the light of their life experiences.

This resource is particularly timely considering the philosophical and legislative shift within the disability sector in Australia. We live in a country where disabled people are making great strides in using the services and supports available to them to live the life they choose. Some of the choices they may make will be about parenting.

Pathways to parenthood is a comprehensive list of resources for disabled parents-to-be and their supporters, laid out in a clear format. It is specifically written for people based in New South Wales, Australia, although much of its content is relevant to all disabled parents. The resources listed include services, books, articles, personal stories and websites.

It is very thorough in dealing with the many issuesfaced by disabled parents. The issues it deals with are broad and overarching, and include such diverse topics as preparing for pregnancy, relationships, multicultural needs, same sex relationships, fertility, chronic illness and assistive technology.

Due to the substantial breadth of the information presented, readers may need some assistance in finding information which is relevant to them. To assist with this, the authors describe how the resource should be used from the outset, and each chapter begins with a clear description of its contents. An index is also provided.

This resource has the potential to build the capacity of generic pregnancy and parenting-related services to include disabled people.

It is pleasing to see that the authors have measures in place to ensure the information will remain current with each new edition. They have done this by including forms for readers to update any resources listed. Additionally, the authors are working on having Pathways to parenthood developed into a website.

In summary, Pathways to parenthood is a comprehensive, clearly presented resource for disabled parents-to-be and their supporters. It fits well with Australia’s current focus on empowering disabled people to live lives of their choosing.

Joanne Watson

Powerful resource for the future

This is a guide to resources that, although aimed at people in New South Wales, Australia, can be of benefit to disabled parents and professionals around the world. The layout is very simple and categorised for ease of topic hunting, but I found the document (at 296 pages) too large to search for specific sources.

The authors have accurately described the problems of searching for relevant information for disabled parents, professionals and disabled people who are thinking of becoming parents. This is the first publication that I have seen that has tried to provide a comprehensive guide to disabled parenting resources around the world.

The section on preparing for pregnancy covered everything I was expecting to find and a lot more. Although the part on specific conditions was not as comprehensive as you may expect, it was still a good springboard for information. It was great to see information on areas of parenting with a disability where there is a general gap in resources – Asperger’s Syndrome, for example.

Chapter 6 is devoted to specialist parenting equipment. The links to mainstream consumer advice will be invaluable to Australian readers, but there are many global and UK links to interest worldwide readers. It is really useful to see how disabled parents, and health professionals around the world have found solutions to some of the problems faced by disabled parents.

The ‘living book’ idea is interesting – allowing readers to send in updates and fresh resources. Let’s hope that it is not ignored.

Pathways to parenthood could form the basis of a powerful resource for the future, but will need regular attention to make sure that it is a constant source of up-to-date information. For New South Wales, an invaluable resource. For Australia, a goldmine of information. For the rest of the world, a promising publication – a blueprint as much as a resource, the usefulness of which will grow with each new update. It is obvious that much time and effort have gone into this work.

Sue Searle

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