ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses that sometimes a mother might love and hate her child at the same time, but feels obliged to care for her. Moore suggests that mothering and motherhood are not, contrary to popular belief, the most natural things in the world, which is useful to keep in mind in contemplating the narratives. It quotes from my personal reflections, and the lengthy narratives below, present different versions of, and responses to, mothering and intellectual disability. They capture an everyday life, but they also afford us a glimpse into the broader and more violent emotional, practical and socio-political caring spheres, or care-less spaces around us. Vorhaus's work, they situate how we understand mothering in the context of emotional responses to rearing a child who is intellectually disabled and how everyday prejudice occurs via others care-less reactions to intellectually disabled children within an institutional and emotional context. All human lives are worth living, and all are worthy of humanity and caring.