Title: Meeting Families Where They Are
Author(s): Beth Harry, Lydia Ocasio-Stoutenburg
Publisher: Teachers College Press, New York
ISBN: 9780807763841 Pages: 192 Year: 2020
This book is a remarkable account of the legacy of advocacy among parents of children with disabilities in the U.S., with particular attention to the experiences of parents of color. Centered in the theoretical frameworks of DisCrit and intersectionality, the authors take readers through a critical, historical journey of how disabilities have been socially constructed, how parents’ voices have been disregarded by professionals, and how collective parental advocacy efforts have evolved over time. As women of color and parents of children with disabilities, the authors are primely attuned to how parental advocacy has not been available to or beneficial for all parents, even with significant increases in parental influence and legal protections. As Harry and Ocasio-Stoutenburg (2020) note, “Although designed as a tool to promote equity, advocacy itself may be subject to the very elitism and marginalization it has sought to overcome” (p. 11).
Read the full review at Teacher College Record