Parenting under scrutiny : disability, motherhood, and the legacy of ableism

Abstract

This article examines how ableism, disablism, and structurally produced vulnerability shape disabled mothers’ experiences of pregnancy and parenting in Malta. Drawing on feminist disability studies, reproductive justice, and the social relational model of disability, the study situates disabled motherhood within enduring eugenic legacies and contemporary forms of reproductive governance that position disabled women as inherently risky, incompetent, or unfit to parent. Using a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with four disabled mothers and two social workers working with parents with intellectual disabilities. Data were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, informed by Thomas’s social relational model of disability and Reeve’s concept of psycho-emotional disablism.

Findings are organised around three interrelated themes: ableism, disablism, and structurally produced vulnerability. The analysis demonstrates how disabled mothers are subject to heightened surveillance, conditional recognition, and persistent scrutiny by healthcare, education, and child protection systems. These experiences are not reducible to impairment effects but are produced through inaccessible environments, deficit-based professional practices, communication barriers, and risk-averse institutional cultures. Professional narratives further reveal how vulnerability is often individualised and pathologised, obscuring the structural conditions that undermine disabled parents’ autonomy and rights.

Situated within Malta’s conservative reproductive regime and small-state welfare context, the study contributes empirical insight into how global disability inequalities are locally enacted. The article argues for a shift towards rights-based, disability-justice-informed parenting policies and practices that recognise disabled parents as legitimate, competent, and rights-holding individuals.