Abstract
We explore the complex ways in which mothers of visibly physically disabled children manage moments of abjection in their relationships with their children. Two women’s stories are told in order to illustrate the power of their disturbing experiences and the ways mothers strive to share the unsharable, thereby empathically connecting with themselves and their children. We argue that understanding maternal experiences is important in and of itself, and that such experiences offer a model for how others may find ways to embrace disability rather than reject, avoid, or hate it. A model of maternal ambivalence that can show how mothers negotiate the abject may go some way towards thinking about the unthinkable. In this way, a deeper social acceptance of disability becomes more attainable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Farlex. (2016) The Free Dictionary. https://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tracheotomy, accessed 30 April 2020.
Fraiberg, S., Adelson, E., and Shapiro, V. (1975) Ghosts in the nursery: A psychoanalytic approach to the problems of impaired infant-mother relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 14(3): 387–421.
Frances, J. (2014) Damaged or unusual bodies: Staring, or seeing and feeling. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy 9(4): 198–210.
Freud, S. (1914) On narcissism. Standard Edition 14. London: Hogarth Press, pp. 73–104.
Gelder, K. (ed.) (2000) The Horror Reader. London: Routledge.
Goodley, D. (2011) Social psychoanalytic disability studies. Disability & Society 26(6): 715–28.
Guberman, R. (ed.) (1996) Julia Kristeva Interviews. New York: Columbia University Press.
Harvey, C. (2015) Maternal subjectivity in mothering a child with a physical disability: A psychoanalytic perspective. AGENDA. Empowering Women for Gender Equity 29(2): 89–100.
Harvey, C. (2017a) Ethical emotional encounters: Contemplating challenges in psychoanalytically informed research. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa 25(1): 34–66.
Harvey, C. (2017b) The intricate process of psychoanalytic research: Encountering the intersubjective experience of the researcher-participant relationship. British Journal of Psychotherapy 33(3): 312–27.
Harvey, C. (2019) Mothering a child with a physical disability: An intersubjective exploration of maternal subjectivity. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Harvey, C. (2020) The uncanny effect of disability: Uncomfortable maternal love for a disabled child. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 56(1): 1–28.
Hughes, B. (2009) Wounded/monstrous/abject: A critique of the disabled body in the sociological imaginary. Disability and Society 24(4): 399–410.
Klein, M. (1946) Notes on some schizoid mechanisms. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 27: 99–110.
Kristeva, J. (1980) Desire in Language. Translated by T. Gora. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kristeva, J. (1982) Powers of Horror. An Essay in Abjection. Translated by L.S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kristeva, J. (2002) The Portable Kristeva. Edited by K. Oliver. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kristeva, J. (2006) At the limits of living: To Joseph Grigely. Journal of Visual Culture 5(2): 219–25.
Kristeva, J. (2010) Liberty, equality, fraternity, and … vulnerability. Women’s Studies Quarterly 38(1/2): 251–68.
Kristeva, J. (2013) A tragedy and a dream: Disability revisited. Irish Theological Quarterly 78(3): 219–30.
Layton, L. (2009) Who’s responsible? Our mutual implication in each other's suffering. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 19(2): 105–20.
McAfee, N. (2004) Julia Kristeva. London: Routledge.
Miller, F. and Bachrach, S.J. (2017) Cerebral Palsy: A Complete Guide for Caregiving. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
Oliver, K. (1993) Reading Kristeva: Unraveling the Double-bind. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Parker, R. (1996) Torn in Two. The Experience of Maternal Ambivalence. London: Virago.
Pentony, S. (1996) How Kristeva's theory of abjection works in relation to the fairy tale and post colonial novel: Angela Carter'’s The Bloody Chamber, and Keri Hulme’s The Bone People. Deep South 2(3). https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no3/issue6.html, accessed 30 April 2020.
Shakespeare, T. (1994) Cultural representation of disabled people: Dustbins for disavowal? Disability & Society 9(3): 283–99.
Shakespeare, T. (1996) Disability, identity and difference. In: C. Barnes and G. Mercer (eds) Exploring the Divide. Leeds: The Disability Press, pp. 94–113.
Sinason, V. (2001) Abuse and handicap: South Africa’s dangerous legacy: plenary address. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa 9(2): 1–12.
Speier, D. (2001) Becoming a mother. Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering 3(1): 7–18.
Stern, D.N. (2002) The First Relationship. Infant and Mother. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Watermeyer, B. (2006) Disability and psychoanalysis. In: B. Watermeyer, L. Swartz, T. Lorenzo, M. Schneider, and M. Priestley (eds) Disability and Social Change. A South African Agenda. Cape Town: HSRC, pp. 31–44.
Watermeyer, B. (2013) Towards a Contextual Psychology of Disablism. London: Routledge.
Watkins, S.E., Meyer, R.E., Strauss, R.P., and Aylsworth, A.S. (2014) Classification, epidemiology, and genetics of orofacial clefts. Clinics in Plastic Surgery 41(2): 149–63.
Welldon, E. (1988) Mother, Madonna, Whore: The Idealization and Denigration of Motherhood. London: Free Association Books.
Wendell, S. (1997) Toward a feminist theory of disability. In: L. Davis (ed.) The Disability Studies Reader. London: Routledge, pp. 260–78.
Winnicott, D.W. (1949) Hate in the counter-transference. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 30: 69–74.
Winnicott, D.W. (1955) Metapsychological and clinical aspects of regression within the psycho-analytical set-up. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 36: 16–26.
Winnicott, D.W. (1964) The Child, the Family and the Outside World. Harmondsworth: Pelican.
Winnicott, D.W. (1971) Therapeutic Consultations in Child Psychiatry. London: Hogarth Press.
Yang, Y., Yuan, J., Yao, X., Zhang, R., Yang, H., Zhao, R., and Zhao, L. (2017) BMPR1B mutation causes Pierre Robin sequence. Oncotarget 8(16): 25864–71.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harvey, C., Long, C. “Sharing the Unsharable”: Subjectivity and the return of the abject in mothers of physically disabled children. Psychoanal Cult Soc 25, 460–479 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-020-00180-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-020-00180-7