Raising generation Rx : mothering kids with invisible disabilities in an age of inequality / Linda M. Blum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blum, Linda M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mothers of children with disabilities--United States.

Mothers of children with disabilities.

Parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--United States.

Parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Parents of children with disabilities--United States.

Parents of children with disabilities.

United States.

Mother and child--United States.

Mother and child.

Physical Description:

viii, 311 pages ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Raising generation prescription

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2015]

Summary:

Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of children diagnosed with "invisible disabilities" such as ADHD, mood and conduct disorders, and high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Whether they are viewed as biological problems in brain wiring or as results of the increasing medicalization of childhood, the burden of dealing with the day-to-day trials and complex medical and educational decisions falls almost entirely on mothers. Yet few ask how these mothers make sense of their children's troubles, and to what extent they feel responsibility or blame. Raising Generation Rx offers a groundbreaking study that situates mothers' experiences within an age of neuroscientific breakthrough, a high-stakes knowledge-based economy, cutbacks in public services and decent jobs; increased global competition and racialized class and gender inequality. Through in-depth interviews, observations of parent support groups, and analyses of popular advice, Linda M. Blum examines the experiences of diverse mothers coping with the challenges of their children's "invisible disabilities" in the face of daunting social, economic, and political realities. She reveals how mothers in widely varied households learn to advocate for their children in the dense bureaucracies of the educational and medical systems, wrestle with anguishing decisions about the use of psychoactive medications, and live with the inescapable blame and stigma in their communities. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Mother-Child Troubles, Past and Present 1

2 "Welcome to Your Child's Brain": Mothers Managing Dense Bureaucracies, Medications, and Stigma 35

3 "The Multimillion-Dollar Child": Raising Kids with Invisible Disabilities in the Context of Privilege 90

4 "I Think I Have to Advocate Five Thousand Times Harder!": Single Mothers in the Age of Neuroscience 137

5 En-gendering the Medicalized Child 176

6 "A Strange Coincidence": Race-ing Disordered Children 210

7 Mothers, Children, and Families in a Precarious Time 237.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781479891870

1479891878

9781479871544

1479871540

OCLC:

893389695