ABSTRACT
This chapter discovers the practical problems faced by mothers who bring up handicapped children in their own homes. It finds out from the mothers themselves how well the various social services intended to help them and their children work in practice. The chapter attempts an objective comparison between the family lives of normal children and handicapped children. This has been achieved by using the now extensive information about the upbringing of normal children obtained from Nottingham mothers by John and Elizabeth Newson. In many other respects the samples were sufficiently alike for comparison to be meaningful and to eliminate guesses and assumptions about the lives of ordinary children. There is no shortage of literature and comment about the problems which can beset the handicapped child and his family, most of it discouraging in that discussion usually centres around the catastrophes that can occur in such families but not much is said about the families who meet the crisis of handicap.
