The Intersection of Motherhood and Disability: Being a “Good” Korean Mother to an “Imperfect” Child

Abstract

This study springs from a larger cross-cultural project about mothering a child with a disability in South Korea and in the United States. The present analysis focuses on data collected in South Korea. Integrating critical feminist and disability theories within a social constructionist framework (McGraw & Walker, 2007), we asked (a) how dominant sociocultural systems related to mothering and disability shape South Korean mothers’ understanding of themselves and their children with autism and (b) how mothers conform to and resist these systems. To answer these questions, we conducted in-depth interviews with 14 middle-class, South Korean mothers with children who have autism. We found that mothers resist stigmatizing beliefs about their children by reconstructing the meaning of “normal” childhood and by relying on a network of similarly situated mothers for support. We also found that these mothers conform to traditional beliefs about “good” mothering by adhering to Confucian family values that encourage women to sacrifice themselves to focus on their children’s success. From these findings, we offer implications for practice.