Reproductive justice and people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan: An issue for social work
Keywords:
Reproductive justice, parental rights, parents with intellectual disabilities, social work with people with intellectual disabilities, TaiwanAbstract
People with intellectual disabilities face difficulties in realising their reproductive rights in different countries and may face challenges to their parental rights in child protection systems. Some studies have explored how parents with intellectual disabilities became involved in their parenting roles, the barriers faced, their needs and types of support they received, the developmental outcome for their children, and further research has evaluated supporting interventions. However, these studies were primarily generated in high-income countries, likely due to the social development of these countries and affected by how people with intellectual disabilities are perceived by each society. Assuredly, this issue needs to be explored in other cultural contexts because previous studies have shown that gender, traditional beliefs, family structure, and religious beliefs all affect the experience of parenting with disabilities. In this article, we first focus on reproductive justice and the rights of parents with intellectual disabilities. Secondly, we explain current reproduction-related demographic data and studies of people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan. Finally, we discuss reproductive justice and its contributions to social work in Taiwan.
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