5 Questions with Dr. Claudia Malacrida

david.kirby — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 18:07:10 +0000

Claudia Malacrida is a Professor of Sociology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, specializing in sociology of the body, gender, and disability studies. Her research is focused on two primary areas: disability and sexuality; and childbirth and choice. In each, she is concerned about how seemingly personal and embodied experiences are constrained and produced through public policy, social attitudes and professional practice.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida is the author of three books.

She is the author of three books relating to gender and the body. Cold Comfort: Mothers, Professionals and Attention Deficit Disorder (2003) offers a comparative study of mothering a child with Attention Deficit Disorder in Canada and the UK. Mourning the Dreams: How Parents Create Meaning from Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Early Infant Death (1998) examines the medical response to infant loss, and the gendered reactions of parents. A third book, Sociology of the Body: A Reader (Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Press: 2008) examines more broadly how the body is influenced by and in turn influences social structures and norms. Dr. Malacrida has published extensively on eugenic history and her fourth book, A Special Hell: Institutional Life in Alberta’s Eugenic Years (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto Press) is forthcoming in 2014.

Malacrida sits on the board Disability & Society and Qualitative Health Research and holds several major grants, including a SSHRC grant for the Newgenics to Eugenics project, and an AIHS grant for the Childbirth and Choice project.

What first piqued your interest in your research discipline?

My interests in motherhood and disability began through my own personal experiences and grew from there. My early work examined mothers' experiences of seeking support and information to help their children with Attention Deficit Disorder in Canada and the UK. I found that much of mothers’ experiences depended on non-medical and non-psychiatric resources, such as educational and teaching training or community support groups. Comparing these two countries enabled me to see different ways of dealing with children's challenges. This led to me to understand disability as a social problem rather than necessarily a psychiatric or medical one. I have since those early days studied mothers who have disabilities in Canada and the UK, and I am now comparing historical and present-day practices relating to disability and sexuality. I find each new study opens avenues to understanding that disability is as much a problem of policy and attitudes as anything else.

My research is deeply concerned with the way our bodies are influenced and effected by social policies and practices. Thus, in addition to working on issues relating to women with disabilities, I am engaged in a major project that examines the culture of birthing in Alberta. We understood that C-section rates vary considerably across the province, so for the past year my research team has been engaged in interviews with mothers, midwives, doctors and educators about birth and choice - comparing birthing cultures in Red Deer, Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton.

How is your research applicable in “the real world”?

In both the disability-related research and the birthing project, we seek to include practitioners in the research, and to report our findings to them as we proceed with the work. Our birth project findings are important to birth practitioners and parents alike, and our research collaborators include organizations involved in direct delivery of medical services. The disability projects have been useful in shifting ideas and policies at the agency level.

What is the greatest honour you have received in your career?

I've been able to access good research funding and satisfying recognition within the academy, however, I am happiest when someone tells me that my work has made a difference to them personally - either in their lives at home with family, or in their workplace practices. When women tell me that I've captured an important aspect of their lives, or when disability workers or teachers tell me that I've made them think a bit differently about their work, I feel that I've done something right.

How important are students to your research endeavours?

I have always worked with undergraduate and graduate students on my work, and I publish with many of them as well. This provides good training opportunities for my students, but it also enriches my own work by providing multiple perspectives. My student colleagues are passionate, smart and engaged, and I consider it one of the privileges of my job to be able to provide mentorship along the way.

If you had unlimited funds, which areas of research would you invest?

Qualitative work is, in fact, not particularly expensive to conduct. Thus, if I had unlimited funding, I would probably like to see it go to student researchers on the team, and perhaps to expand the research to international comparative sites. Comparative research provides us with insight into other ways of doing things, and it can also show us how seemingly 'natural' experiences such as disability or childbirth are in fact highly cultural practices.

Women with disabilities still facing barriers as they seek relationships, motherhood

trevor.kenney — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 18:14:19 +0000

Eugenic sterilization is no longer legal in Alberta, but some people with disabilities continue to experience barriers when it comes to having children, says ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge sociology researcher Dr. Claudia Malacrida.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida has been studying the history of the Michener Centre for the past 15 years.

Malacrida and her team of researchers are in the midst of a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) that stems from her ongoing interest in questions about disability, reproductive rights and eugenics. Valued at $318,278, the five-year study is entitled, Disability, Sexuality, Relationships and Family: An Exploratory Study.

“Fifteen years ago, while researching the history of Michener Centre in Red Deer, I began collecting life histories from people who were sterilized under the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act,” says Malacrida, in advance of International Day of People with Disabilities on Tuesday, Dec. 3. “I learned that the largest group of people involuntarily sterilized were women with disabilities, many of them residents of Michener Centre.”

Malacrida’s research group is seeking to interview two groups of women about their experiences. First, they seek women who were affected by Alberta’s eugenics era (1928 through 1972), who are primarily aged 50 to 70. They also wish to speak with younger disabled Albertan women about their hopes, experiences, challenges and successes in achieving relationships, sexual rights and, where desired, motherhood.

Red Deer's Michener Centre housed many women who were involuntarily sterilized during Alberta's eugenics era.

“In our interviews, young women with intellectual disabilities have described being placed on long-term birth control at extremely early ages, sometimes without their full consent or knowledge about side effects,” says Malacrida. “Women with physical disabilities have spoken about the lack of services available to them as mothers, something they see as a hidden message that disabled women should not be having children.”

The stories they collect will be played against policy and discourse historically and in the current context, to outline similarities and differences in law, practice and attitudes between Alberta’s eugenics age and the present.

The project has received ethical approval through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, and all information collected will be treated anonymously and in confidentiality. Interested people should contact research assistant Gillian Ayers (403-332-4591 or by e-mail at gillian.ayers2@uleth.ca) to arrange an interview.

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5 Questions with Dr. Claudia Malacrida

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Women with disabilities still facing barriers as they seek relationships, motherhood

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