Citation

Stehlik D. Violence Against Women 2001; 7(4): 370-392.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778010122182514

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article uses the metaphors of segregation and surveillance of women with disabilities historically, establishing links between current practices in genetics and past experiences. Following Foucault, the article argues for a “history of the present” through an appreciation of the many discursive narratives of the past. From recently completed research focusing on the lifelong caring undertaken by Western Australian parents of their children with intellectual disabilities, the genealogy of three influential discursive propositions of the early and mid-20th century are identified: eugenics, institutionalization, and motherhood. By their powerful present-day influence, such discourses affect the lives of women with disabilities, thus underpinning the inherent institutionalized violence of their day-to-day experience.