Conditional love : parent's attitudes toward handicapped children / Meira Weiss.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Parenting: Challenging a Myth. Parenting and Body Image. Attitudes towards Handicapped Children. Research Method. The Structure of This Book -- Ch. 1. Beautiful Is Fortunate. Body and Parenting. How Are These Questions Treated in the Literature? Importance of the Child's External Appearance. From Normal to Abnormal. Case 1 "The black and broken heart" Case 2 "The child with the tail" Case 3 "The monster with the cosmetic repair" From Newborn to Child. Case 4 "The bald-headed monster with scars" Case 5 "Yigal, the scoured boy" Case 6 "The Mongoloid" Case 7 "A hole in the stomach" -- Ch. 2. Of Man and Beast. Labeling and Stigmatization. Dehumanization, Violence, and Becoming a "Person" Case 8 "The unicorn" Case 9 "The monster" Case 10 "A bit retarded" Case 11 "The two-headed child" Case 12 "A boy and girl in one" Case 13 "The little Japanese" Chaos, Abnormality, and "Non-person" "Non-person" and Stigma. "Non-person," Ugliness, and Violence. "Non-persons" as Social Pollutions -- Ch. 3. Body Image.

The Literature on Body Image. Case 14 "Once a Mongoloid, always a Mongoloid" Case 15 "Your diagnosis keeps you from seeing the real child" Case 16 "Looking at her, you can't tell that she's sick" Case 17 "Hannah, the confusing girl" Case 18 "Now the cancer is spreading like a weed" Case 19 "Those who look healthiest are actually sickest" -- Ch. 4. The Breached Fortress. Case 20 "Her juice will come pouring out" Case 21 "Like machines being operated by someone else" Case 22 "I know my child without his feces" Case 23 A head "like a balloon about to burst" Case 24 "He didn't have a face; he was just a blob" Case 25 "Her head can come out" Basic Assumptions on the Essence of Woman, Man and the Human Body. Who Is a "Person"? The Importance of the Senses -- Ch. 5. Social Construction of the Home: The Case of Deformity. Social Construction of Disability. Territorial Behavior and Social Construction of the Physical Environment. Factors Affecting Social Construction of the Home.

Territorial Behavior towards the Abnormal Child. Territorial Isolation of the Abnormal Child. Case 26 "The servant's quarter" Case 27 "A prison at home" Case 28 "The monster's ghetto" Case 29 "A prison with a color T.V." Case 30 "The ravaged territory: 'Either the boy, or me'" -- Ch. 6. Parenting and Responsibility. Case 31 "Give her a drug to end her life" Case 32 "Cancel the operation; life and death are in God's hands" Case 33 "Do not do the operation. Everything is in Allah's hands" Case 34 "After all, she's our daughter" Case 35 "Home is for the healthy" Case 36 "We want to check what they're doing to our girl" Case 37 "The expert" Case 38 "The Rabbi said not to do the transplant" Case 39 "The vegetable" Case 40 "Don't throw away the fetus; I want to take it for burial in my village" Case 41 "Beethoven" Case 42 "Number one and number two" Case 43 "Don't tell my family I gave birth" -- Ch. 7. Epilogue. Theoretical Reflections. Personal Reflections.