The state is fighting against our children: Parental advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities in Moscow, Russia

Existing theories consider parental advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities in the political, economic and cultural contexts of the North America and Western Europe. Many of those theories are not empirically tested. Most of the studies focus on exploring advocacy as a construct, rather than on studying parents who advocate. This study explores advocacy in Moscow, Russia through qualitative analysis of interviews with 26 mothers and 1 grandmother of children with disabilities and six key informants from the governmental and five from non-governmental sectors. It explores the extent to which extant Western theories can be applied to a cross-cultural setting. It also explores the relationship between parents' beliefs about what is important to their children's well-being and parental advocacy activities.