Against All Odds

There is a substantial body of literature thatexplores family adaptation within the context ofchildhood disability. However, closer analysisindicates that the focus of this research hasconcentrated on two-parent family systems. Despiteevidence to suggest that single mothers are morelikely to be parenting children with disabilities;their experiences have received minimal attentionwithin social science research. The intent of thiswork was to explore the adaptation of single motherswithin a longitudinal framework, and to identify theindividual, family, social and environmental factorsthat contribute toward resilience within thispopulation. Findings revealed a marked contrastbetween public discourses and the personal narrativesof the mothers in this study. Concepts of familyresilience were revealed by mothers who challengeddefinitions of single mothers as inadequate, whodisputed the definition of their children as disabled , and who moved from a position of receivedto authoritative knowledge. In contrast to publicperceptions of chronic dysfunction, single mothers ofchildren with disabilities view their experiences aspersonally transformative and empowering.