Editors Lewiecki-Wilson and Cellio have put together the first book to
focus on the intersecting spaces, both cultural and personal, of disability
and mothering. Derived from the Latin for threshold, the word "liminal"
calls attention to the book’s focus on the transitional moments and spaces
where the personal and social, inside and outside, self and other converge.
The volume features twenty-one previously unpublished essays by
new as well as established scholars and community activists. Contributors,
some of whom are themselves disabled or mothers of children with
disabilities, present moving personal accounts and accessible scholarship
grounded in historical study, experiential and retrospective analysis, interviews,
social research, and feminist and disability studies theories.
In their introduction, the editors survey the theoretical frameworks of
feminism and disability studies, locating the points of overlap crucial to a
study of disability and mothering. Organized in five sections, the book engages
questions about reproductive technologies; diagnoses and cultural
scripts; the ability to rewrite narratives of mothering and disability; political
activism; and the tensions formed by the overlapping identities of race,
class, nation, and disability. The essays speak to a broad audience—from
undergraduate and graduate students in women’s studies and disability
studies, to therapeutic and health care professionals, to anyone grappling
with issues such as genetic testing and counseling, raising a child with a
disability, or being disabled and contemplating starting a family.
