Discrimination and Stigma for Disabled Adoptees
By Charlie Rees
Introduction
Adoption is a complex process for all involved. Complexity within the adoption process is compounded when adoptees also have disabilities. In Britain, disabled adoptees are underrepresented among adoptees who are assigned permanent homes.
Despite this, disabled children are overrepresented within the care system overall; disabled children are nearly 5 times more likely to be in residential care or children's homes.
Adoptees with disabilities experience intersectional discrimination which stems from stigma towards their status as adoptees and because of their disabilities. This article examines the intersectional experience of disabled adoptees by illuminating the voices of disabled adoptees.
Experiencing Stigma
Disabled adoptees are forced to navigate social stigma on two counts: due to their disabilities and due to their status as adoptees, both of which generate differential treatment within society. The intersection of these two categories is a challenging dynamic and further compounds complexities and challenges that are inherent to living as an adoptee.
The stigma that disability attracts within many societies is pervasive. In the UK disabled people face difficulties in attaining equal opportunities in housing, education and employment due to the stigma associated with disabilities. In 2017/ 2018, only 6 percent of disabled adults were in paid employment. This statistic underscores the pervasiveness of social stigma around disability. Even the categorisation of “disabled” is inherently problematic and flawed. This label highlights how pervasive stigma is around disability. Disability as a term and concept is flawed because it relies on the assumption that disabled people are less able. Some voices argue that disabilities are a creation of barriers within societal infrastructure and that disabled individuals are not inherently less able
Status as an adopted child, or adoptee, also carries with it social stigma. The topic of adoption has been associated with negative feelings of shame. The topic of adoption was relegated from educational and communicative conversation resulting in the development of negative and harmful attitudes among wider society and within adoptees themselves. Rigid social norms about what a family is or should result in social stigma and negative views towards adoptive families which deviate from these societal norms. Adoptees may internalise these negative conceptions which has consequences for the emotional functioning of adoptees.
Systemic Discrimination
Disabled adoptees experience many negative and harmful stereotypes and social expectations of who they are and what they are capable of.
An embodiment of the general stigma around disabled adoptees is the systemic discrimination that disabled adoptees experience within adoption systems. Systemic failures create barriers to disabled children being placed with permanent families. For example, disabled children are overrepresented within the care-system. Despite this, they are among the least likely as a demographic to be placed in permanent families.
One site of discrimination that disabled adoptees experience is during the “matching” process where prospective parents are matched to adoptees. During this process, prospective parents are asked to define the characteristics that they want in a child. At the same time, prospective adoptees are reduced to a list of characteristics and a description of their history. This is a flawed process as it reduces the complexity of a human being to a series of tick boxes and reduces the likelihood of disabled adoptees to receive permanent placement with families. Instead of looking at what the adoptee needs, the adoptive parents wishes are put first. This is extremely flawed.
Very young disabled children in the care system receive unique levels of discrimination as prospective parents are put off by “stated unknowns”. Even though older disabled children in the care system are statistically less likely to be adopted, their chances are better once they have a proper diagnosis and once their disability is manifest.
Disabled adoptees and prospective adoptees are also more likely to encounter physical and mental abuse during the adoption process. One review found “systematic and sustained” abuse of disabled children in care systems in the UK care system
These examples show how social stigma around the intersection between adoptees and disability manifests to create unique systemic barriers for disabled adoptees in the care system.
Voices of Disabled Adoptees
Disabled adoptees sit on the intersection of two characteristics which in themselves generate negative associations and attract social stigma. Maddy Ullman is an international adoptee. She was adopted as a child from Hong Kong and has Cerebral Palsy, a neurological condition which impairs her use of muscles and general mobility. Maddy described social stigma she received throughout her life as a result of her adoptee status and disability. She described being ignored because of other peoples ignorance and awkwardness around her disability. She also described the societal expectation of having to be grateful to her able bodied parents who gave her a greater quality of life.
Mallika Macleod was adopted from Sri Lanka as a child by Australian parents. She is also a wheelchair user. Mallika echoes the experience of infantilisation which Maddy discussed. Mallika said that the experience of disabled adoptees is entirely centred around charity; that to adopt a disabled person is a favour and an act of saviourism. Disabled adoptees are seen as charity cases rather than people. Mallika wants to disrupt this narrative by highlighting how disabled adoptees are functioning people with useful skills rather than charity cases that need to be saved by able bodied people.
An anonymous online blogger described her experience in adoptive and foster care as a wheelchair user. Whilst the anonymous author managed to secure a permanent placement, she experienced discrimination at the hands of her adoptive parents because of her disability. She was denied the use of her wheelchair and was treated differently to her able-bodied siblings. The author was taken back into care at age 11 but still experienced discrimination based on her disability. Her temporary foster parents made no effort to improve the accessibility of the home which she lived in. These experiences left the author with issues around her sense of identity and belonging.
Conclusion
The voices of disabled adoptees that I have attempted to highlight show how disabled adoptees and prospective adoptees face unique social stigma and discrimination based on their intersectional identity as adoptees and as people with disabilities.
The experiences of the three adoptees I have described in this article underscore how ingrained social stigma is around disability and how this can compound the already complex challenges that arise from the adoption process. What these experiences highlight is how discriminatory practices stem from stigma born out of a lack of understanding. Going forward, emphasis should be placed on open communication and education around disabilities and disabled adoptees.