To read this content please select one of the options below:

Experiences, Interpretations, and Cultural Representations of Type 1 Diabetes and Their Effects on Individual Reproductive Trajectories

Disability and the Changing Contexts of Family and Personal Relationships

ISBN: 978-1-83753-221-6, eISBN: 978-1-83753-220-9

Publication date: 10 June 2024

Abstract

This paper draws on 26 in-depth interviews with people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) to explore how experiences and interpretations of disability redirect and transform reproductive trajectories. I apply Almeling's conceptualization of reproduction as the “biological and social process of having or not having children” as a framework for understanding what occurs at multiple analytical layers (structural and cultural, interactional, self, and body) across the life course and influences how and whether people with disabilities feel having children is something they want or need or is within their reach. Findings reveal the lasting impact of viewing the film Steel Magnolias, pivotal interactions with healthcare providers, and interpretations of embodied T1D experiences as major sources of tension for participants as they reflect on their reproductive trajectories and outlooks. Considering especially the structural and cultural layer, this paper enriches our understanding of disability by demonstrating that both women and men with less noticeable or visible disability are subject to similar social imperatives of risk management and moral reproduction as those with more noticeable physical or sensory disabilities, although gender also matters for how participants experience these imperatives. Findings lend support for viewing reproduction as a lifelong process beyond the sequence from conception to birth, as some significant disability experiences that transform or redirect reproductive trajectories fall outside this timeframe.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the Dean's Research Initiative from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland.

Citation

Maietta, J.T. (2024), "Experiences, Interpretations, and Cultural Representations of Type 1 Diabetes and Their Effects on Individual Reproductive Trajectories", Ciciurkaite, G. and Brown, R.L. (Ed.) Disability and the Changing Contexts of Family and Personal Relationships (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 15), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720240000015007

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited