Caring Fathers: Reflecting Lived Experiences of Fathers having Children with Disabilities

Fathering and fathers’ involvement in care remained an untouched endeavor within wider discourses of care within academic scholarships and researches. However, there are many recent developments within feminist ethics of care which has given due importance to include the role of fathers as care givers I relation to childcare for children with and without disabilities. But very limited papers have attempted to connect masculine ideology that shapes the fathers’ perception of their role in caring children with disabilities. In this paper I have tried to see how did the care work, extended by fathers of young children with disabilities, involved dimensions of emotion and performance relating to care. The paper has attempted to explore how the connection between masculine and gender ideology of a father has shaped their understanding and perception of fatherly roles related to care for children with disabilities.