ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the closer link between critical disability studies (CDS) and feminist maternal studies, particularly around discussions of mothering children with disabilities, and the potential for carer advocacy which works to support the agency and self-determination of disabled people. It examines temporality and the complex interaction of care and time, both in terms of 'real' time spent caring and the imagined temporal future. Feminist critiques of the patriarchal institution of motherhood continue to be a key focus of motherhood studies; there is also a growing interest in maternal subjectivities, and a move towards naming the field maternal studies rather than motherhood studies. In maternal studies literature, disability is often an 'add-on' category or mentioned in discussions on intersectionality – the significant differences in day to day life that mothers of disabled children experience are rarely highlighted. It is in the CDS field that have found developing scholarly discussions around mothering disabled children that speak to our concerns.
