Unfit Parent
A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World
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Unfit Parent
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Narrated by:
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Finlay Stevenson
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By:
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Jessica Slice
About this listen
—Ann Helen Petersen, Culture Study
"Cuts boldly and beautifully through that silence, inviting readers to imagine what our world might look like if we met every family where they are."
—Vogue
“A beautiful, transformative book about being a parent in a world that rejects frailty and weakness.”—Rachel Aviv, staff writer at the New Yorker
A paradigm shifting look at the landscape of disabled parenting—the joys, stigma, and discrimination—and how disability culture holds the key to transforming the way we all raise our kids
In Unfit Parent, Slice debunks the exclusionary myths that deem disabled people “unfit” to care for their children, instead showing how disabled parents and disability culture provide valuable lessons for rejecting societal rules that encourage perfectionism and lead to isolation.
Combining her personal experiences with interviews, research-backed evidence, and disability studies, Slice shares insight into what the landscape is like for disabled parents—one that is scattered with unpredictable obstacles and inaccessible barriers, including:
- How do you find adaptive baby equipment?
- How do two disabled parents creatively keep their children safe?
- How do you get reproductive care when the medical system assumes you aren’t able to have kids?
- What is it like to be in public knowing that someone might call child protective services simply because a parent is disabled?
In overcoming these challenges, she describes how disabled parents are oftentimes more prepared to adapt to the demanding nature of parenthood, including the uncertainty of losing control over bodily autonomy.
Uplifting and powerful, Unfit Parent illuminates how disabled bodies and minds give us the hopeful perspectives and solutions we need for transforming a societal system that has left parents exhausted, stuck, and alone.©2025 Jessica Slice (P)2025 Beacon Press Audio
Critic Reviews
"Filled with insight that manages to be at once beautiful and razor-sharp. This book is fucking elucidating. I cannot recommend highly enough."
—Ann Helen Petersen, Culture Study
“Jessica Slice’s story of disabled parenting will feel familiar to anyone who has been told their body is ‘not enough’ or ‘too much.’ Slice’s work deftly tells a deeply moving story, while grounding readers in the many ways ableism shows up in parenthood. Unfit Parent is a must-read for anyone committed to building a just and accessible world for parents and kids alike.” —Aubrey Gordon, New York Times best-selling author and cohost of Maintenance Phase
“This vulnerable, insightful, and thoughtful book is a must-read for any parent seeking a map for how to care for their children—while also caring for their own needs—with creativity, community, and joy.” —Rachel Somerstein, author of Invisible Labor
“This is such a glorious, revelatory book. Jessica Slice cuts through all the judgment and stereotypes to reveal the truth: disabled people are, in many ways, uniquely suited to and skilled at parenthood and are sources of wisdom, ingenuity, courage, and joy that the entire world can learn from.” —Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of An Immense World