STRUGGLES WITH TIME - THE CAREERS OF PARENTS WITH ADULT SONS AND DAUGHTERS WITH LEARNING-DISABILITIES

The experiences of parents with adult offspring with learning disabili ty and the meanings their parental careers have for them, has been the subject of very little empirical research. In this paper we describe and examine some of the features that gave shape and meaning to the da y to day lives of parents of 33 co-resident adults with learning disab ilities. Their accounts of their situations revealed that 'time' was a factor of some importance. Participants suggested that socialisation into the parental role was one that continued over the life course. In addition, they also felt that the services they received were based u pon an inadequate and too narrow an understanding of how they experien ced 'time'. The data reveal that both 'over time' and 'in time', paren ts struggled to maintain a set of aspirations for a typical life. The data show that for many parents there was a slow accommodation to the constraints of service provision and, as a result, their needs for ser vice support became less extensive.