Parents of disabled children experience an intensification of what is expected of them as parents. They do so in a context where social responses to disability mean that they are stepping outside ‘normal’ narratives of family; where they are far more embedded in medical practices that sustain their child’s life; and where, in the UK, welfare provision is directed towards parental responsibility for care. The question is whether the additional care needs of children with disabilities should be seen as simply additional components to the parental portfolio of care responsibilities? Parents can experience the role of being intensive carers as different from what they expect parenting to be.

1. Modes of care and mothering: How does citizenship and care intersect in the lives of mothers of disabled children? Dr Janice McLaughlin, Executive Director PEALS, Reader in Sociology, Newcastle University [email_address]