Challenges Faced by Nigerian Parents with Disabled Children in Caring for Them

Disabilities in children pose a lot of challenges, fear and worries for the parents and careers of the disabled children. This study tried to find out those challenges faced by parents of disabled children while caring for them. Questionnaires designed to gather the needed information, were distributed to parents of children with disabilities who bring their children for treatment at a Federal government hospital in the eastern part of Nigeria. Same questionnaire was also filled online by parents with disabled children on a Facebook platform that goes by the name “Super Parent”. Our study revealed that parenting disabled children can be very stressful as there are lots of challenges faced by parents of disabled ranging from emotional and financial stress, lack of supports, discrimination, loss of social life and others which result in psychological problems, depression, physical exhaustion and reduced quality of life.