UNFIT PARENT
A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World
Navigating the joys, stigma, and discrimination of disabled parenting—and how the solutions offered by disability culture can transform the way we all raise our kids
In Unfit Parent, Slice debunks the exclusionary myths that deem disabled people “unfit” to care for their children, instead showing how disabled parents and disability culture provide valuable lessons for rejecting societal rules that encourage perfectionism and lead to isolation.
Combining her personal experiences with interviews, research-backed evidence, and disability studies, Slice shares insight into what the landscape is like for disabled parents—one that is scattered with unpredictable obstacles and inaccessible barriers.
Navigating the joys, stigma, and discrimination of disabled parenting—and how the solutions offered by disability culture can transform the way we all raise our kids
In Unfit Parent, Slice debunks the exclusionary myths that deem disabled people “unfit” to care for their children, instead showing how disabled parents and disability culture provide valuable lessons for rejecting societal rules that encourage perfectionism and lead to isolation.
Combining her personal experiences with interviews, research-backed evidence, and disability studies, Slice shares insight into what the landscape is like for disabled parents—one that is scattered with unpredictable obstacles and inaccessible barriers. In overcoming these challenges, she describes how disabled parents are oftentimes more prepared to adapt to the demanding nature of parenthood, including the uncertainty of losing control over bodily autonomy.
Uplifting and powerful, Unfit Parent illuminates how disabled bodies and minds give us the hopeful perspectives and solutions we need for transforming a societal system that has left parents exhausted, stuck, and alone.
- Beacon Press
- Hardcover
- April 2025
- 224 Pages
- 9780807013243
Buy the Book
$28.95
About Jessica Slice
Jessica Slice is a disabled mother, author, and essayist whose work has appeared in The New York Times’s Modern Love column, in Alice Wong’s bestselling Disability Visibility, The Washington Post, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan, among others. She is co-author, with Caroline Cupp, of Dateable: Swiping Right, Hooking Up, and Settling Down While Chronically Ill and Disabled and This is How We Play: A Celebration of Disability and Adaptation. Follow her online at jessicaslice.com.
Praise
“This is such a glorious, revelatory book. Jessica Slice cuts through all the judgment and stereotypes to reveal the truth: disabled people are, in many ways, uniquely suited to and skilled at parenthood and are sources of wisdom, ingenuity, courage, and joy that the entire world can learn from. I am a nondisabled man with no children and I gained so much from this book.” —Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of An Immense World
Discussion Questions
1. In her Introduction, Jessica Slice writes that she will tell the truth about what it means to be a disabled parent. Before you read Unfit Parent, what are some beliefs you held about disabled parents? Has the book changed your mind?
2. Slice calls her book an exploration of exploration of “disability gain,” a term coined by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson in reference to the benefits of being disabled. What are some of the benefits that could help all parents?
3. In chapter 1, Slice says, “Disabled parents are everywhere—we make up at least 10 percent of parents—and we have been waiting to be included in mainstream conversations.” Why do you think this is?
4. In chapter 3, Slice shares the story of Jourdan F. who is not disabled and her difficult journey to become a parent. As she explains, “pregnancy is the first time they regularly interact with the medical system and experience the true fragility and unpredictability of their bodies.” What are some of the lessons non-disabled people might learn through Slice’s journey with her disability?
5. Many of the disabled parents in the book had a much smoother transition into parenthood than non-disabled parents. Why is this so?
6. What are some of the gifts disability culture brought to Slice’s life?
7. In the home, disabled parents are able to use their ingenuity and creativity to build home environments that support their needs and keep their kids safe. But, outside of the home, disabled parents face many challenges. What are some of the challenges disabled parents face outside of the home?
8. In chapter 7, Slice shares the story of Michael Hickson and his wife, Melissa. How did the story of his death affect you? Did it change the way you judge a person’s quality of life and who has the right to make decisions about it?
9. In chapter 8, Slice writes about the child welfare system and its bias against disabled parents. Were you surprised to learn of the disproportionate number of disabled parents who get the children taken away? Why?
10. Would you recommend this book to parents in your life—disabled and non-disabled? Why or why not?