Chapter 8: The Struggle for Recognition: Doing Parenthood with Neurodivergent Children

Parents of neurodivergent children and young people in the Global North frequently describe their interactions with welfare professionals and local governments as exhausting and stressful. The discussion within the Nordic welfare state is often intricately linked to negotiations concerning support for children and families. In this chapter, we illuminate a Danish context of doing parenthood with neurodivergent children. Pedagogical, social–psychological, and critical theories about family life, parenthood, and disability inspire the chapter. We address the intersection among family, day-care institutions, school life, and disability. Through a mixed-method and multi-site approach, combined with two research projects, we shed light on how parents experience encounters with welfare institutions when negotiating help for their children. These negotiations often become tumultuous for parents, affecting their perceived quality of life, life choices, and daily encounters with welfare institutions. We argue that parents’ narratives about their tumultuous work are attempts to expand opportunities for their children to gain the support they need, and these “trials” come with varying degrees of recognition and violations in interaction with welfare professionals.