Occupational Responses to Mid‐life and Aging in Women with Disabilities

Abstract Our understanding of occupational responses across the life course is in its infancy. The occupational responses of women in mid‐life and aging have received little attention. The focus of this paper is on the occupational responses to mid‐and later life of a particularly neglected group of women: those with disabilities. For women in the general population, mid and later life are characterized by a host of intrinsic changes (physical and psychological) along with extrinsic or environmental changes (children leaving home, divorce, socio‐cultural expectations, aging parents). These changes have the potential to impact occupational behaviour. Women with disabilities have spent a lifetime orchestrating themselves and their environments to enable meaningful and satisfying occupational engagement. There is a need to understand…