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Disabled fathers - research agenda
Majella Kilkey, from the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Hull, UK, summarises a report published by the university arising from a one-day workshop for and about disabled fathers.
In 2007, the University of Hull hosted a one-day workshop for and about disabled fathers. The central aim of the workshop was to identify an agenda for research designed to illuminate the needs and experiences of disabled fathers.
The workshop was sponsored by the UK Social Policy Association, and its participants were broad ranging, including researchers working in the areas of disability, parenting and fathering, practitioners working with disabled fathers and parents, organisations of disabled parents, and disabled fathers. Some of the discussions that took place at the workshop have now been written up as a report and published by the University of Hull.
The report includes original empirical research evidence about how men understand and practise fathering in the context of impairment and disability, and examines evidence on how disabled fathers' experiences might differ from those of disabled mothers.
It also presents the perspectives of practitioners working with disabled fathers and parents, organisations of disabled parents, as well as disabled fathers themselves, about what research, policy and practice agendas for and about disabled fathers should consist of. The report will be relevant to those with an interest in disability, fathering and parenting, and to those working in a range of contexts, including policy, practice and research, and statutory and non-statutory organisations.
Why disabled fathers?
The first section of the report demonstrates that disabled fathers have been marginalised within all the relevant bodies of research - for example, work on fathering, disability and parenting - and makes a strong case for the need to address this gap. It argues that as policy agendas increasingly highlight the importance of fathers, and as research agendas emphasise the need to uncover the diversity in contemporary fathering, we should be careful not to miss the opportunity to bring disabled fathers into the frame.
This has become all the more crucial from a social policy perspective because under the new Gender Equality Duty (Equality Act 2006) which took effect in April 2007, all public authorities, including those commissioning parenting services, are required to have 'due regard' to the need to promote equality of opportunity between women and men. But the report also argues that disabled fathers and their families matter in their own right, not least because they are likely to be at a disproportionate risk of social exclusion. Their exclusion is likely to be experienced on a number of fronts, given the high rates of income poverty among disabled adults in general, as well as their labour market disadvantage, and more general experiences of discrimination.
The report argues, however, that the development of appropriate responses and initiatives to the exclusions of fathers and their families will be limited unless there is a fuller understanding of their experiences and needs.
Is disabled parenting a gendered experience?
In the second section of the report, Harriet Clarke (of the University of Birmingham) reflects on her Department of Health-funded research which explored disabled parents' experiences of raising children. Clarke notes that while (disabled and non-disabled) fathers were involved in the study, her research raised at least as many questions as it answered in relation to how parenting may be experienced differently by mothers and fathers because disabled fathers were under-represented in the study overall.
Clarke suggests that future research agendas on fathers could usefully look at how the experience of fathering with an impairment varies according to the age of the father, as well as the age of the child or children; how policy and practitioners respond to disabled fathers' parenting support needs; disabled fathers' experiences of parenting after separation and divorce; and disabled men's experiences of both access to employment and access to parenting.
She concludes that her findings point to the importance of gender-aware parenting research (which strives to highlight both men's and women's experiences and support needs in relation to parenting), as well as the value of developing research focused specifically on fathers' experiences.
What is it like being a disabled father?
Part of that challenge is taken up in a further section of the report, in which Majella Kilkey (of the University of Hull) discusses an on-going research project that focuses specifically on disabled fathers. The aims of her study are to develop knowledge of the ways in which disabled fathers understand fathering, in particular their notions of 'good enough' fathering, and how this fits with dominant ideas in society about 'good' fathering; to develop knowledge of how the identities and meanings they attach to fathering have come about, in particular the ways in which they change over time and the roles played in this by impairment, disability and experiences of discrimination, socio-economic circumstances, important events, their own experience of fathering, and significant others; and to develop knowledge of how disabled fathers experience and practise fathering on a daily basis.
Kilkey outlines some emerging findings from that research, exploring three themes which seem to dominate fathers' accounts: firstly, the changes to fathers' identity as breadwinners in the context of impairment; secondly, the adaptation of men's fathering practices in the context of impairment; and thirdly, the experiences of disabled fathers regarding the recognition of them as fathers, particularly on the part of services. She cautions, however, against assuming that all fathers will have the same experiences, and argues that factors such as impairment type, socio-economic circumstances and age interact to situate fathers differently.
Where next?
The final section of the report, by Anna Sandfield and Simon Unsworth, looks at the question of where next for further research.They also expand on the question by extending it beyond the research agenda to include policy and practice agendas. It should be acknowledged that their section relies heavily on the input received from the workshop participants.
One of the main conclusions was that more knowledge about the experiences of disabled fathers needed to be developed. It was felt that disabled fathers needed to be involved in the research process, from setting the research agenda, to carrying out the research, through to analysing the results and drawing conclusions. Only in this way could research be sure to listen and give voice to the concerns of disabled fathers and their families.
Disabled Fathers: towards a research agenda edited by Dr Majella Kilkey. 2007, Hull, Working Paper Series, University of Hull. ISBN 1 903 704 37 5 PDF copies available from M.M.Kilkey@hull.ac.uk. Hard copies available, price £7 (including P&P) from Working Papers, Social Policy, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX. Please make cheques payable to University of Hull.