FAMILIES AND THE HANDICAPPED IN NORTHERN JAPAN

Almost no research has been done on the impact of physical handicaps o n family relationships in the Arab world. Fieldwork carried out in the north Jordanian town of Kufrinja sheds light on coping strategies ado pted by parents of handicapped children. It shows that the task of car e-giving falls on the child's mother to the exclusion of other family members, and that the care-giving role is so closely linked to the mot her that when she dies the handicapped child often can find no substit ute. Cross-cultural comparison suggests that this is not a culture-spe cific pattern: on the contrary, the Arab family seems in this regard q uite similar to American and English families. Another finding is that the presence of a handicap in a child disrupts the marriage strategie s of the child's family. Fear that the handicap is hereditary makes it much more difficult for the child's sisters to find suitors. In Arab tradition, only the father of a handicapped child - not the mother or mother's family - must bear the costs of therapy and medical treatment . Consequently, women who are thought likely to transmit a handicap to their chidren are viewed as a potential source of unusual expenses an d difficulties by suitors and their families.