Intro to Feminist Therapy for working with Family w/ Disabilities

1. FEMINIST THEORY
B Y :
J O S I E ,
K R Y S T A L , &
D I A N A

2. DISABILITIES
A disability is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) as
“A person who 1. has a physical or
mental impairment that limits one or
more major life activities OR 2. has a
record of such an impairment”

3. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISABILITIES?
Mobility and physical impairments
Spinal cord
Head injuries
Vision
Hearing
Cognitive or learning
Psychological
According to the Census Bureau 1 in 5 people have
a disability

4. CHALLENGES FOR THE FAMILIES
• Caretaking demands and maintaining family harmony
• Finding resources for proper medical care and financial
difficulties
• Support from extended family and friends

5. CHALLENGES FOR THE PERSON WITH THE DISABILITY
Children
 Getting accommodations in school settings
Adults
 Pursuing a higher education
 Employment
 Long-term independent living
Seniors
 Need for in-home assistance

6. REGAINING FREEDOM
http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/push-
girls/videos/angela-hits-the-road-push-girls-
episode-5-season-2-clip

8. MYTHS
 People with disabilities always
need help
 Under the ADA, employers must
give people with disabilities
special privileges
 People who are deaf make ideal
employees in noisy work
environments
 People who are blind acquire a
"sixth sense.”
 Disabilities are always visible

9. RESOURCES
• Department of Rehabilitation:
http://www.rehab.cahwnet.gov/index.asp
• Services for people with disabilities nationwide:
http://nichcy.org/state-organization-search-by-state
• Services for people with Disabilities in California
http://www.ca.gov/HomeFamily/PersonsWithDisabilities.html
• Rehabilitation, health care for low-income families, early interventions,
workshops for parents, and services within each type of disability
• Resources for adults in higher education, independent living, recreational
activities/support, and employment
**Referrals through doctors

11. TYPES OF FEMINISM AND IT’S ROOTS
 Liberal Feminism
 Type of mainstream feminism that works to integrate women into society. Its
roots stretch back to the social contract theory of government instituted by
the American Revolution.
 Radical Feminism
 Radical feminism was the cutting edge of feminist theory from approximately
1967-1975. It is no longer as universally accepted as it was then, nor does
it provide a foundation for cultural feminism.
 However, Radical feminism is actually the breeding ground for many of the
ideas arising from feminism; ideas which get shaped and pounded out in
various ways by other (but not all) branches of feminism
Reference: The University of Alabama in Huntsville. (n.d.)
Kinds of Feminism.

12. TYPES OF FEMINISM AND IT’S ROOTS
 Marxist and Socialist Feminism
 Marxism recognizes that women are oppressed, and attributes the oppression to the
capitalist/private property system. Thus they insist that the only way to end the
oppression of women is to overthrow the capitalist system.
 Socialist feminism is the result of Marxism meeting radical feminism.
 Cultural Feminism
 As various 1960s movements for social change fell apart or got co-opted, folks got
pessimistic about the very possibility of social change; so many turned their attention to
building alternatives, so that if they couldn't change the dominant society, they could
avoid it as much as possible.
 Cultural Feminism emerged after Radical Feminism died out as a movement.
 The difference between cultural and radical feminism is that radical feminism was a
movement to transform society, cultural feminism retreated to vanguardism, working
instead to build a women's culture. While many cultural feminists have been active in
social issues as individuals, not as part of a movement.
Reference: The University of Alabama in Huntsville. (n.d.)
Kinds of Feminism.

13. TYPES OF FEMINISM AND IT’S ROOTS
 Eco-Feminism
 This branch of feminism is much more spiritual than political or theoretical in
nature.
 Its basic tenet is that a patriarchal society will exploit its resources without
regard to long term consequences as a direct result of the attitudes fostered
in a patriarchal/hierarchical society.
 Parallels are often drawn between society's treatment of the environment,
animals, or resources and its treatment of women.

14. DEAF DAVID : MY THOUGHTS ON MY LIFE OF DEAFNESS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AScHIfF0SoQ

15. GOAL OF FEMINIST THERAPY
Empowerment

17. TECHNIQUES OF FEMINIST THERAPY
• Egalitarian Relationship
• Conscious Raising
• Gender-Role and Power Analysis
• Self-Disclosure
• Bibliotherapy
• Assertiveness Training
• Reframing and Relabeling
• What is something powerful you have done?
• Invite the client to…
• Can use any technique from any theory as long as it is empowering

18.  Radical Feminism, by Anne Koedt (1973) .
 Daring to be Bad, by Alice Echols (1989).
 Feminist Frameworks: Alternative Theoretical
Accounts of the Relations Between Women and
Men, by Alison M. Jaggar and Paula S.
Rothenberg (1993).
 The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical
Reflections on Disability, by Susan Wendell
(1996).
 Feminist Therapy (Theories of Psychotherapy)
By: Laura S. Brown (2009).
 Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection
between Queer and Feminist Theory, by Mimi
Marinucci (2010).
 Feminist Disability Studies by Kim Q. Hall (2011).

19. POINTS OF INTEREST
• Feminist therapist avoid formal assessment, diagnosing is a
collaborative effort.
• Psychopathology = Distress and behavioral dysfunction
• Encourage clients to question the therapist
• Fee setting = Sliding scale
• How your office is set up, what message are you sending?

20. REFERENCES
 Brault, Matthew, (2012). Americans with Disabilities: 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-131.pdf
 Bitter, J. (2009). Theory and practice of family therapy and counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole,
Cengage Learning.
 Brown, L. (2010). Feminist Therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
 Emerson, E. (2003). Mothers of children and adolescents with intellectual disability: social and economic
situation, mental health status, and the self-assessed social and psychological impact of the child's
difficulties. Journal Of Intellectual Disability Research, 47(Parts 4/5), 385-399. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-
2788.2003.00498.x
 Fujiura, G. (2010). Aging families and the demographics of family financial support of adults with
disabilities. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 20(4), 241-250. doi: 10.1177/1044207309350560
 Keller, D. and Honig, A. S. (2004), Maternal and paternal stress in families With school-aged children with
disabilities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74: 337–348. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.74.3.337
 Myths and facts about people with disabilities. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/spd/files/Myth.pdf
 The University of Alabama in Huntsville. (n.d.) Kinds of Feminism. Retrieved on July 15 from:
Http://www.uah.edu/woolf/feminism_kinds.htm