Book reviews

Reviews the books, Disability, mothers, and organisation: Accidental activists by Melanie Panitch (2008) and Parenting and inclusive education: Discovering difference, experiencing difficulty by Chrissie Rogers (2007). The books aim to examine parents' experiences and explore the ways that mothers and fathers navigate care and education and service systems with their disabled children. Highlighting issues of parental agency, both of these books present a wealth of data which demonstrates the insuperable barriers which face many disabled families. They share a number of common concerns, and both provide valuable in-depth analyses of children's exclusion and obstacles to parenting, examining the ways in which barriers to inclusion are experienced and challenged in everyday life. Panitch's book focuses closely on the particular stories of three mothers of disabled children who had achieved high profile status in their work to promote social justice for disabled people. The book is divided into eight chapters, has an index, a useful notes section and an appendix. Roger's this book is sometimes difficult to read, dealing with the hard, challenging experiences faced by families navigating the education system and the plethora of hurdles that parents and disabled children can endure.