Algorithms of Access: Immigrant Mothers Negotiating Educational Resources and Services for their Children

Abstract

This article draws upon the narratives of immigrant mothers (e.g., Japanese, Dominican, Filipina) of children with disabilities who reside in New York City. Common to each mother’s narrative is a description of her ongoing negotiation between cultural meanings of disability and the American conceptualization of disability and its institutionalized response to disability. In considering these narratives through a disability studies lens, we identify ways in which race, class, culture, and language impact immigrant mothers’ access to disability resources and services for themselves and their children.