Siksikaitsitapi Parenting of Children with Disabilities
Date
2020-09-22
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Abstract
Canada has a dark colonial history with her relationship with the Indigenous population that entered the national consciousness through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission final report findings released in June 2015. It illuminated and informed Canadians about the Indian residential school survivor experience when many Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to attend these schools. The traumatic impact to survivors was detrimental to their health and Indigeneity, which compromised Indigenous family systems and influenced parental skills. Research suggests that disability among Indigenous people is rising within the general Canadian population and recommendations are consistent in addressing the dearth in literature to comprehend Indigenous experiences of impairment, disability, health, education, marginality, oppression and colonization related to parenting practices. Today, Indigenous parents continue to endure many challenges, in particular, achieving health service equity in provision for the needs of their children who have disabilities. Despite facing adversarial predicaments, there are Indigenous parents who demonstrate resilient strength-based approaches to parenting. This Indigenous community-based study explored the parental stories of Siksika (Blackfoot) parents to comprehend how they parent a child with a disability within their community. An Indigenous framework informed by Siksika ontology and epistemology guided the project. The collaborative story analysis gathered from parental stories were interpreted and discussed according to the teachings of the Siksikaitsitapi. A decolonizing theoretical approach utilizing an Indigenous methodology contributes to the scholarship of Indigenous knowledge, identity, parenting and creates an understanding that can inform and enhance culturally competent health care for Siksika children.
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Indigenous Health, Indigenous Children, Disability and Family, Blackfoot
Citation
Yellow Old Woman, P. (2020). Siksikaitsitapi Parenting of Children with Disabilities (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.