Reflections on Disability Parenting: Perspectives of Japanese Mothers Whose Children Attend an Elementary Special Support School

Abstract

Raising a child with disabilities involves complex emotional, relational, and caregiving demands that may reshape how mothers understand parenting, child development, and everyday life. However, dominant understandings of disability parenting remain framed by normative developmental expectations, ideals of maternal self-sacrifice, and an emphasis on caregiving burden and coping. Such framings may overlook how mothers actively reconsider socially prescribed standards, reconstruct their caregiving roles, and derive meaning while continuing to experience hardship. This study therefore explored how Japanese mothers of children with disabilities reflected on the ways their caregiving experiences had shaped their perspectives on motherhood, child development, personal wellbeing, relationships, and everyday life. Written interviews were distributed to mothers of third-grade students at an elementary special support school in Japan. Eleven completed responses were returned and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four interconnected themes were developed from the mothers’ narratives: (1) deconstructing normality, reflecting mothers’ questioning of social comparison, conventional developmental expectations, and assumptions about how children should develop; (2) reframing caregiving through self-compassion, illustrating the recognition that maternal wellbeing, personal limitations, and emotional vulnerability are integral to sustainable caregiving; (3) redressing isolation through support-seeking, highlighting the importance of family, peer, professional, and community support in reducing solitary caregiving responsibility; and (4) finding meaning in hardship, highlighting mothers' reflections on gratitude, broadened perspectives, enriched relationships, personal growth, authenticity, and a renewed appreciation of everyday life despite ongoing challenges. The findings, collectively, demonstrate that mothers' reflections extended beyond descriptions of burden and coping to reconsidering conventional developmental expectations, caregiving, social support, and their understanding of a fulfilling life.