Raising Generation RX

by Linda M. Blum

Recent years have seen an explosion in the number of children diagnosed with “invisible disabilities” such as ADHD, mood and conduct disorders, and high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Whether they are viewed as biological problems in brain wiring or as results of the increasing medicalization of childhood, the burden of dealing with the day-to-day trials and complex medical and educational decisions falls almost entirely on mothers. Yet few ask how these mothers make sense of their children’s troubles, and to what extent they feel responsibility or blame. Raising Generation Rx offers a groundbreaking study that situates mothers’ experiences within an age of neuroscientific breakthrough, a high-stakes knowledge-based economy, cutbacks in public services and decent jobs, and increased global competition and racialized class and gender inequality.

Through in-depth interviews, observations of parents’ meetings, and analyses of popular advice, Linda Blum examines the experiences of diverse mothers coping with the challenges of their children’s “invisible disabilities” in the face of daunting social, economic, and political realities. She reveals how mothers in widely varied households learn to advocate for their children in the dense bureaucracies of the educational and medical systems; wrestle with anguishing decisions about the use of psychoactive medications; and live with the inescapable blame and stigma in their communities.

Linda Blum is Associate Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University. She is the author of Between Feminism and Labor: The Significance of the Comparable Worth Movement and At the Breast: Ideologies of Breastfeeding and Motherhood in the Contemporary United States.

Genres: Disability, Sociology, Psychology

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2015

Reviews

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are at least two kinds of great books: those that tell you something you never knew before and those that articulate your own experience in a way you haven't seen elsewhere. I can attest that her analysis of the experience of higher-income mothers of kids with invisible disabilities was spot on, which makes me trust that her analyses of women in other income groups was similarly accurate.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't actually finish this book. The writing style was to academic for my likes and very dry with lots of technical words. Although from what I did read it was quite informative and definitely worth reading if your interested in the topic. However I will say that her methods of finding the interviewees and doing this study were quite biased(which she admitted to but it stills bothers me). All in all it was slow and horrible read.

[Tina Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

The experience of mothering a child with a hidden disability, ADHD, ADD, dyslexia, is a real challenge. This is is fascinating, eye opening and shame making research.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book hit home. It reads more like a sociology tome than I like, but the observations were spot on.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accurately portrays the extra burden placed on parents of children with hidden disabilities to be experts in the medical, psychiatric, educational and legal fields to get the help they need for them.