When Judicial Protection Excludes: Parenthood, Disability, and Human Rights in Dispute
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35588/c7qac939Keywords:
Discapacidad, parentalidad, Derechos Humanos, sistema judicial , ajustes razonablesAbstract
This article critically analyzes the judicial and institutional practices experienced by parents with intellectual disabilities in Chile, within the framework of legal proceedings related to child custody. Using a qualitative single-case study approach, 171 judicial and intervention program documents were examined, along with six interviews conducted with key stakeholders. The analysis revealed a systematic absence of reasonable accommodations, assessments based on normative models lacking a rights-based perspective, and measures reinforcing discrimination through a punitive approach toward disability. The article concludes that institutional practices reproduce structural exclusions and recommends a shift towards an inclusive paradigm, emphasizing personalized support and intersectoral strategies to ensure the right to family life in conditions of equality and dignity.
References
Aunos, M. & Pacheco, L. (2020). Able or unable: How do professionals determine the parenting capacity of mothers with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 14(5), 525–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2020.1729923
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Chile. (2010, 10 de febrero). Ley N.º 20.422: Establece normas sobre igualdad de oportunidades e inclusión social de personas con discapacidad. Diario Oficial de la República de Chile. https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=1010903
Cobeñas, P. (2018). Investigar con mujeres con discapacidad: reflexiones epistemológicas y metodológicas desde el enfoque feminista-emancipador. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Pedagogicos, 99(251), 132-147. http://doi.org/10.24109/2176-6681.rbep.99i251.3473
Collings, S., Grace, R., & Llewellyn, G. (2017a). The role of formal support in the lives of children of mothers with intellectual disability. Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID, 30(3), 492–500. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12361
Collings, S., Dew, A., & Dowse, L. (2017b). Support planning with people with intellectual disability and complex support needs in the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 43(4), 360–370. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2017.1293230
Cruz-Pérez, M. del P. (2014). Mitos acerca de la maternidad en mujeres con discapacidad. Perinatología y reproducción humana, 28(2), 91-96.http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0187- 53372014000200004&lng=es&tlng=es
Ley N.º 20 120. (2006, 22 de septiembre). Sobre la investigación científica en el ser humano, su genoma y prohíbe la clonación humana. Diario Oficial de la República de Chile. https://www.leychile.cl/N?i=253478
Goodley, D., Lawthom, R., Liddiard, K., & Runswick‑Cole, K. (2019). Provocations for Critical Disability Studies. Disability & Society, 34(6), 972‑997. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2019.1566889
Harding, S. G. (1996). Ciencia y feminismo. Madrid: Ediciones Morata.
Herrera, F. (2022). ‘La mamá soy yo’: experiencias parentales de madres y padres con discapacidad en Chile. Psicologia Em Estudo, 27. https://doi.org/10.4025/psicolestud.v27i0.58850
Herrera, F., & Rojas, A. (2024). Sexualidad, reproducción y parentalidad en personas con discapacidad. En F. Herrera & P. Marshall (Eds.), Discapacidad en Chile: Una introducción (pp. 141–168). Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales.
Hichins‑Arismendi, M., Mandiola‑Godoy, D., & Obilinovic‑Rivera, J. P. (in press). Parentalidad inclusiva y terapia ocupacional: Experiencias y desafíos desde el Sur. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional.
Franklin, L., Theodore, K., Foulds, D., Cooper, M., Mallaghan, L., Wilshaw, P., Colborne, A., Flower, E., Dickinson, D., & Lee, J. N. Y. (2022). “They don’t think I can cope, because I have got a learning disability…”: Experiences of stigma in the lives of parents with learning disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 35(4), 935–947. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12934
Frederick, A. (2014). Mothering While Disabled. Contexts, 13(4), 30–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504214558214
Flick, U. (2018). The Sage handbook of qualitative data collection. London: SAGE Publications.
García Dauder, S. & Romero Bachiller, C. (2018). De epistemologías de la ignorancia a epistemologías de la resistencia: correctores epistémicos desde el conocimiento activista. En M. T. Cordero Cordero (Comp.), Discusiones sobre investigación y epistemología de género en la ciencia y la tecnología (pp. 145–164). San José, Costa Rica: INIE.
García Dauder, S. & Pérez Sedeño, E. (2017). Las “mentiras” científicas sobre las mujeres. Madrid, España: Los Libros de la Catarata.
Janeslätt, G., Jöreskog, K., Lindstedt, H., & Adolfsson, P. (2019). Experiences of the maternal role and support in mothers with cognitive limitations who have children in placement. Child & Family Social Work, 24(4), 494-502. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12629
Marshall, P. & Tenorio, M. (2024). Acceso a la justicia para las personas con discapacidad en Chile. En F. Herrera & P. Marshall (Eds.), Discapacidad en Chile: Una introducción (pp. 205– 229). Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales.
Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia. (2023). Encuesta Nacional de Discapacidad y Dependencia (ENDIDE 2022): Informe de resultados. Gobierno de Chile. https://www.desarrollosocialyfamilia.gob.cl/endide2022
More, R. & Tarleton, B. (2022). Experiencing motherhood and fatherhood with learning difficulties in Austria: The need for self-determined support. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50(4), 455–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12395
Naciones Unidas. (2007). Convención sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad. Asamblea General, Resolución A/RES/61/106. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/documents/tccconvs.pdf
Nguyen, A. 2020. “Challenges for women with disabilities accessing reproductive health care around the world: A scoping review.” Sexuality and Disability, 38(3), 371-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-020-09630-7
Llewellyn, G. (2013). Parents with Intellectual Disability and Their Children: Advances in Policy and Practice. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 10(2), 82–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12033
Oliver, M. (1990). The Politics of Disablement. London: The MacMillan Press
Pilson, A. (2020). Critical disability studies and participatory action research: Antidotes to educational research’s inherent ‘othering’? In D. Goodley, K. Runswick‑Cole, & K. Liddiard (Eds.), Interventions in Disabled Childhood Studies (pp. 49–54). iHuman Press, University of Sheffield.
Powell, R. M. & Parish, S. L. (2017). Behavioural and cognitive outcomes in young children of mothers with intellectual impairments. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 61(1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12308
Tahir, M. & Cobigo, V. (2025). “They helped me stand on my own two feet”: Canadian parents with intellectual disabilities in child protection. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 29(2), 349–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/17446295241296215
Tarleton, B. & Turney, D. (2019). Understanding ‘successful practice/s’ with parents with learning difficulties when there are concerns about child neglect: The contribution of Social Practice Theory. Child Indicators Research, 13(2), 387–409. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187- 019-09682-y
Tarleton, B. & Burch, K. (2025). More parents with intellectual disabilities than we thought: A short report from England. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 38(3), e70052. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.70052
Rice, J. G., Bjargardóttir, H. B., & Sigurjónsdóttir, H. B. (2021). Child Protection, Disability and Obstetric Violence: Three Case Studies from Iceland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(1), 158. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010158
Rio-Poncela, A. M. & Rojas-Pernia, S. (2024). Motherhood and intellectual disability in Spain: Experienced difficulties and shared desires for change. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52(2), 236–247. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12571
Rodríguez-Garrido, P., Herrera, F., Yupanqui-Concha, A., Rojas, A., & Hichins-Arismendi, M. (2024). Women with disabilities and the loss of custody of their children: “Carers, but not mothers.” Feminism & Psychology, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593535241294149
Strnadová, I., Bernoldová, J., & Adamčíková, Z. (2018). ‘She will know that her mother’s doing something for her’: women with intellectual disabilities assuming the mother identity. Disability & Society, 34(1), 68-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2018.1505602
Symonds, J., Abbott, D., & Dugdale, D. (2020). “Someone will come in and say I’m doing it wrong.” The perspectives of fathers with learning disabilities in England. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49(1), 23-33. https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12351
United Nations General Assembly. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, G.A. Res. 60/232, UN GA, 61th Sess., UN Doc. A/RES/61/106. Ginebra: United Nations.
Universidad Central de Chile & Servicio Nacional de la Discapacidad (SENADIS). (2020). Guía de principios de actuación para garantizar el acceso a la justicia de las personas con discapacidad. https://www.senadis.gob.cl
Van Nieuwenhuijzen, M., Koet, S., & Lever, M. (2025). Barriers and facilitators in reaching and supporting parents with intellectual disabilities. Disabilities, 5(2), Article 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities5020035
Vasilachis, I. (2009). Los fundamentos ontológicos y epistemológicos de la investigación cualitativa. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-10.2.1299
Verdugo, M. A., Navas, P., Gómez, L. E., & Schalock, R. L. (2012). The concept of quality of life and its role in enhancing human rights in the field of intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 56(10), 1036–1045. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365- 2788.2012.01585.x
Wilson, S. W., McKenzie, K., Quayle, E., & Murray, G. (2013). A systematic review of interventions to promote social support and parenting skills in parents with an intellectual disability. Child Care Health and Development, 40(1), 7-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12023
World Medical Associations. (2013). Declaración de Helsinki: Principios éticos para la investigación médica sobre sujetos humanos. https://www.wma.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DOH-Oct-2013_S.pdf
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (Vol. 5). SAGE.
Yupanqui-Concha, A., Hichins Arismendi, M., & Mandiola Godoy, D. (2022). “I was raped inside, being in a place where I was supposed to be taken care of”: Experiences of oppression and violence in health contexts towards women with disabilities and approaches from feminist occupational therapy. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional, 30(spe), e3104. https://doi.org/10.1590/2526-8910.ctoAO238231042
Downloads
Submitted
2025-07-29Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Melissa Hichins Arismendi, Andrea Rojas, Florencia Herrera, Sebastián Rebolledo Saavedra, Joaquín Sánchez Leyton, Carla Vidal Ramos, Daniela Mandiola-Godoy

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Los autores publicados en Palimpsesto aceptan las condiciones de publicación, distribución, preservación y uso de contenidos contemplados por esta revista a través de la licencia Creative Commons BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ que permite compartir el trabajo con un reconocimiento de la autoría original y publicación inicial en esta revista
- Los autores pueden hacer uso sin restricciones de su producción, cumpliendo siempre con lo exigido por la dicha licencia: citar la edición respectiva de esta revista como fuente original.
- Palimpsesto acoge y promueve el cumplimiento de acceso abierto sin ningún tipo de condición o restricción a los textos y datos dados a conocer por ella. Palimpsesto hace suya todas las declaraciones internacionales que favorecen el acceso abierto (Open Access), tales como las de Budapest, Berlín, Bethesda, entre otras.
- Como política de retribución, los autores, cuyos artículos hayan sido aceptados y publicados en PALIMPSESTO, aceptan formar parte del comité de revisores de nuestra revista.
- El autor/a, una vez enviado el artículo, acepta las condiciones de difusión de esta revista explicadas en este apartado.







