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Great Expectations: Infertility, Disability, and Possibility

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The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History

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Abstract

This chapter uses personal narrative along with feminist and disability theories to explore the relationship between personal experience of infertility and the 1998 designation of infertility as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Shigley summarizes the case law on this issue, but focuses particularly on how infertility appears in select literary texts. To begin this textual exploration, she examines the etymology and connotations of the word ‘infertile’ and its close cousins, and explores both personally and textually how the feelings and stigma of infertility linger long after the quest for pregnancy has been abandoned.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Susan Sontag, Illness as a Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors (New York, 2001), p. 3.

  2. 2.

    Saul Spigel, ‘Infertility: Causes, Treatment, Insurance, and Disability Status’ (2005), Connecticut General Assembly Office of Legislative Research Report: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/rpt/2005-R-0145.htm Accessed 6 December 2016.

  3. 3.

    American Society for Reproductive Medicine, ‘Frequently Asked Questions about Infertility’: https://www.asrm.org/awards/index.aspx?id=3012. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  4. 4.

    Arthur Kleinman, The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition (New York, 1988), pp. 3–4.

  5. 5.

    Kleinman, The Illness Narratives, pp. 5–6.

  6. 6.

    Kleinman, The Illness Narratives, p. 28.

  7. 7.

    Lisa Loomer, Expecting Isabel (New York, 2005), p. 33; Kleinman, The Illness Narratives, p. 4.

  8. 8.

    Arthur W. Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics (Chicago, IL, and London, 1995), pp. xi-xiii.

  9. 9.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 2.

  10. 10.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 35.

  11. 11.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, pp. xii-xiii.

  12. 12.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 3.

  13. 13.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 31.

  14. 14.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, pp. 122–3, 135.

  15. 15.

    Paula Knight, X-Utero: A Cluster of Comics (2011–13), p. 3. For further details, see www.paulaknight.wordpress.com. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  16. 16.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 135.

  17. 17.

    Peggy Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother (New York, 2007), p. 223.

  18. 18.

    Christiane Northrup, ‘Psychological Factors Affecting Fertility’, Author Website: http://www.drnorthrup.com/psychological-factors-affecting-fertility/. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  19. 19.

    Northrup, ‘Psychological Factors Affecting Fertility’.

  20. 20.

    Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy, p. 225.

  21. 21.

    See Daniela Cutas’s chapter in this volume for further discussion of infertility as an experiential condition inseparable from the sufferer’s desire for full fertility.

  22. 22.

    Shorge Sato, ‘A Little Bit Disabled: Infertility and the Americans with Disabilities Act’, Journal of Legislative and Public Policy, 5:1 (2001), p. 189.

  23. 23.

    United States Department of Justice, ‘Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’, Guide to Disability Rights Laws (2009): http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  24. 24.

    Sato, ‘A Little Bit Disabled’, p. 205.

  25. 25.

    Frank, The Wounded Storyteller, p. 8.

  26. 26.

    Quoted in Jean W. Carter and Michael Carter, Sweet Grapes: How to Stop Being Infertile and Start Living Again, rev. edn (Indianapolis, IN, 1998), p. 16.

  27. 27.

    Lennard J. Davis, ‘Constructing Normalcy’, in Lennard J. Davis (ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (New York, 2010), p. 3.

  28. 28.

    Carter and Carter, Sweet Grapes, p. 15.

  29. 29.

    Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy, pp. 134–5.

  30. 30.

    Gay Becker, Healing the Infertile Family: Strengthening Your Relationship in the Search for Parenthood (Berkeley, CA, 1997), pp. 39–57.

  31. 31.

    United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ‘Births: Final Data for 2013‘, National Vital Statistics Reports, 64:1 (January 2015), p. 5: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_01.pdf. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  32. 32.

    Lerita M. Coleman Brown, ‘Stigma: An Enigma Demystified’, in Lennard J. Davis (ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (New York, 2010), p. 187.

  33. 33.

    Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, ‘Disability Gain’, Keynote Address, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Conference, Atlanta, GA, 26 October 2013.

  34. 34.

    Anatole Broyard, Intoxicated by My Illness: And Other Writings for Life and Death (New York, 1992), p. 3.

  35. 35.

    Paula Knight, Spooky Womb: A True-ish Uterine Tale (2012), cover and p. 11. For further details, see www.paulaknight.wordpress.com. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  36. 36.

    Loomer, Expecting Isabel, p. 59.

  37. 37.

    Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy, pp. 225–6.

  38. 38.

    Sinéad Moriarty, ‘About Me’, Author Website: http://www.sineadmoriarty.com/about-me/. Accessed 6 December 2016.

  39. 39.

    Phoebe Potts, Good Eggs: A Memoir (New York, 2010), p. 239.

  40. 40.

    Potts, Good Eggs, p. 245.

  41. 41.

    Potts, Good Eggs, pp. 247–8.

  42. 42.

    Anne Taylor Fleming, Motherhood Deferred: A Woman’s Journey (New York, 1994), p. 256.

  43. 43.

    Knight, X-Utero, p. 6.

  44. 44.

    Potts, Good Eggs, p. 94.

  45. 45.

    Becker, Healing the Infertile Family, p. 37.

  46. 46.

    Garland-Thomson, ‘Disability Gain’.

  47. 47.

    Fleming, Motherhood Deferred, p. 13.

Research Resources

Theoretical Works on Illness and Infertility

  • Gay Becker, Healing the Infertile Family: Strengthening Your Relationship in the Search for Parenthood (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jean W. Carter and Michael Carter, Sweet Grapes: How to Stop Being Infertile and Start Living Again, rev. edn (Indianapolis, IN: Perspectives Press, 1998)

    Google Scholar 

  • Anne Taylor Fleming, Motherhood Deferred: A Woman’s Journey (New York: Ballantine, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur W. Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics (Chicago, IL, and London: University of Chicago Press, 1995).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen Slauson-Blevins, and Julia McQuillan, ‘The Experience of Infertility: A Review of Recent Literature’, Sociology of Health and Illness, 32.1 (2010), 140–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur Kleinman, The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, and the Human Condition (New York: Basic Books, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

Infertility, Illness and Literature

  • Anatole Broyard, Intoxicated by My Illness: And Other Writings of Life and Death (New York: Ballantine, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pamela Butler and Jigna Desai, ‘Manolos, Marriage, and Mantras: Chick-Lit Criticism and Transnational Feminism’, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 12.2 (2014), 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young (eds), Chick Lit: The New Woman’s Fiction (New York: Routledge, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  • Paula Knight, Spooky Womb: A True-ish Uterine Tale (2012). See www.paulaknight.wordpress.com.

  • Paula Knight, X-Utero: A Cluster of Comics (2011–13). See www.paulaknight.wordpress.com.

  • Lisa Loomer, Expecting Isabel (New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peggy Orenstein, Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, An Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman’s Quest to Become a Mother (New York: Bloomsbury, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  • Phoebe Potts, Good Eggs: A Memoir (New York: Harper Collins, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  • Susan Sontag, Illness as a Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors (New York: Picador, 2001).

    Google Scholar 

Infertility and Disability

  • American Society for Reproductive Medicine, ‘Frequently Asked Questions about Infertility’: https://www.asrm.org/awards/index.aspx?id=3012.

  • Lerita M. Coleman Brown, ‘Stigma: An Enigma Demystified’, in Lennard J. Davis (ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2010), 179–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lennard J. Davis, ‘Constructing Normalcy’, in Lennard J. Davis (ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2010), 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, ‘Integrating Disability: Transforming Feminist Theory’, in Kim Q. Hall (ed.), Feminist Disability Studies (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011), 13–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shorge Sato, ‘A Little Bit Disabled: Infertility and the Americans with Disabilities Act’, Journal of Legislative and Public Policy, 5:1 (2001), 189–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saul Spigel, ‘Infertility: Causes, Treatment, Insurance, and Disability Status’ (2005), Connecticut General Assembly Office of Legislative Research Report: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/rpt/2005-R–0145.htm.

  • United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics Reports: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/nvsr.htm.

  • United States Department of Justice, ‘Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’, Guide to Disability Rights Laws (2009):http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, USA

    Sally Bishop Shigley

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  1. Sally Bishop Shigley
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Correspondence to Sally Bishop Shigley .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Gayle Davis

  2. Department of History, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex, UK

    Tracey Loughran

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Shigley, S.B. (2017). Great Expectations: Infertility, Disability, and Possibility. In: Davis, G., Loughran, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52080-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52080-7_3

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52079-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52080-7

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