Invisible contributions in families with children and adults with intellectual disabilities

For many years there has been an underlying pathology within the literature about families with children and adults with intellectual disabilities (Helff & Glidden, 1998). This literature has emphasized stress and burden, incapacity and dependency, leading to negative stereotyping of families in this context. Over the last 2 decades research has led to some important reconceptualizations of how families approach their caring, affording an improved understanding of how they deploy strengths and resources, and who benefits. This paper reviews this thinking, arguing that it provides a suitable context for understanding the scope and form of family caregiving contributions that are less visible, and therefore less recognized. An attempt is therefore made to chart invisible contributions. It is suggested that invisible contributions have implications for thinking about human and social capital (Putnam, 2000) as well as for practice in supporting families.