Narratives of Separation: Institutions, Families, and the Construction of Difference

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dc.contributor.advisorRioux, Marcia H.
dc.creatorBurghardt, Madeline Catherine
dc.date.accessioned2015-01-26T14:15:11Z
dc.date.available2015-01-26T14:15:11Z
dc.date.copyright2014-05-28
dc.date.issued2015-01-26
dc.date.updated2015-01-26T14:15:10Z
dc.degree.disciplineCritical Disability Studies
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractParents of children with intellectual disabilities born in Ontario in the era following World War II found themselves obliged to make significant yet misinformed decisions regarding their child’s long-term care. Immersed in postwar discourse which promoted the normative construction of the Canadian family, in combination with limited community support and generalized misconceptions of intellectual disability, many families had to choose between two principal options: keep their child at home and raise a child with needs divergent from the “norm” with few resources, or place the child in a segregated institution. Dating back to the latter half of the mid-nineteenth century, large-scale institutions for people with intellectual disabilities had become the predominant model of care for people with intellectual disabilities in Ontario outside of the family home. Many thousands of individuals were admitted to institutions; this bore significant consequences both for those admitted and for the families who decided to send them there. To date, scholarly work on institutions has focused on historical, political, and social factors which contributed to their development, as well as the more recent address of the narratives and histories of people who have lived there. Little is known, however, about the effect on family relationships and understandings of disability when one member of the family is institutionalized. The purpose of this project is to explore family relationships and understandings of disability when a family member with an intellectual disability is institutionalized for an extended period of time. Its principal body of data stems from thirty-six in-depth interviews conducted with the members of several families, including parents who institutionalized their children, siblings of those institutionalized, and those who were themselves institutionalized in Ontario in the years following World War II. Family members had widely divergent experiences in regards to institutionalization processes. Interpretations of the impact institutionalization had on the family were dependent on one’s location in relation to institutionalization. Findings demonstrate how relations of power were manifested in the family though institutionalization processes, and show the significant role that discursive constructions of intellectual disability have had on participants’ understandings of disability and of their family member.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/28177
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectSocial research
dc.subjectHistory
dc.subjectIndividual & family studies
dc.subject.keywordsFamily poweren_US
dc.subject.keywordsInstitutionalizationen_US
dc.subject.keywordsIntellectual disabilityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsFamilial decision-makingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsDifferenceen_US
dc.subject.keywordsDiscursive constructionen_US
dc.subject.keywordsIntellecten_US
dc.subject.keywordsEugenicsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsCold War eraen_US
dc.titleNarratives of Separation: Institutions, Families, and the Construction of Difference
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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