ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the principal ideas of A. Schutz's analysis of common sense. The contexts within which typical differences in the construction of the meaning of the child's condition are shown are identified in terms of whether parents define onset as sudden or gradual; diagnosis as clear or unclear; prognosis as certain or uncertain. If parents are to fulfil their normal responsibilities towards the child, act effectively as his custodians and socializing agents, they must be able to understand his behaviour. If parents are to appear to be coping adequately with and caring for the child, they must be able to present an orderly definition of his behaviour to others. Having a disabled child is an experience of which, at most, parents usually have knowledge about rather than direct acquaintance. At the birth of a child many mothers may fear that something might go wrong, but, in the absence of antenatal difficulties, this is unwarranted by any specific evidence.
