A Disability Culture Perspective on Early Intervention with Parents with Physical or Cognitive Disabilities and their Infants

Through the Looking Glass, 2198 Sixth Street, Suite 100, Berkeley, CA 94710. (800) 644-2666 (voice); (800) 804-1616 (TTY); [email protected]; www.lookingglass.org [Note: This is the original manuscript that was published in Infants and Young Children, 13(2), 9-20. (2000).] Introduction The intent of this article is two-fold: (1) to describe how a disability culture perspective has informed research and early intervention serving parents with physical disabilities and their babies, and (2) to articulate how this perspective is also guiding intervention for parents with cognitive disabilities and their babies. The term “disability culture” refers to the social model, civil rights or minority model of disability: disability as socially constructed, with an emphasis on its social meaning, and on social obstacles as the primary problem for people with disabilities and their families. This article identifies themes that have emerged from research and intervention in a disability culture-based organization, Through the Looking Glass (TLG), and which seem particularly salient for improving practice with parents with disabilities and their children. Differentiating is an appropriate theme to consider initially. There has been a persistent problem in research and practice of blurring distinctions between parents with diverse disabilities. One can consider this over-generalizing a manifestation of the concept of “spread”. Recently Olkin discussed the power of the negatively valenced disability characteristic to “spread” and evoke inferences about an individual’s other characteristics, leading to stereotyping: “A negative value attached to the fact of disability spreads to other unrelated