Mark Rapley’s The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability

“We see then that professionalised understandings of people with intellectual disabilities not only collapse ‘people’ and ‘intellectual disabilities’ in such a fashion as to reduce personhood, simply, to ‘intellectual disability,’ but with ‘a zest for pathology and a zealous divineness,’ also work to discredit, invalidate and de-legitimise any form of understanding other than those prosecuted within its own terms: that is to say ‘commonplace intelligiblities are altogether surprssesd’ (Gergen, 1998: np).”  Mark Rapley

 

Mark Rapley’s book, The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability, might say new things to some people and say some things differently to others because it comes out of a different discourse than our own, but I think it is well worth reading, and arguing with, and feeling supported by in that “I knew something was up!” kind of way.  In the first part of the book Rapley and his team look at recorded conversations of people with intellectual disabilities and their professional supports and examine the ways in which during those conversations people are categorized and often dismissed.  They then take their work into supported living homes and record staff as they assist people; one of the things that they watch is how staff assist people to be more independent but in the process create a kind of dialogue that undermines confidence.   

This is not a new book, having come out in 2004, but it certainly is interesting.  It was transformational for me in my thinking and led me down some new avenues.  It is available, more affordable as a second hand copy and is also a Kindle book (though not searchable).   

The 101Friends newsletter is a resource for Spectrum Consulting.  Collaborative: Learning, Research, Press.  Almost 70,000 readers have dropped in to be part of a conversation about raising the bar on person centred thinking, planning and supports.  Our work is a social enterprise with a reflective relationship with Spectrum Society, which has supported folks with challenges in their neighbourhoods for more than 27 years.  We pursue a cycle of learning and teaching through internal and external inclusive research projects.  We do contracts for organizations and individuals on a fee for services basis, and also provide “community benefit” services for reduced or no fees.   Donations can be made and will be used to assist folks we support to participate in our work around leadership and literacy for adults with disabilities.   You can donate here.

If you would like to unsubscribe, please see the instructions in the email.  If you have difficulties feel free to contact us (aaron@spectrumsociety.org).   If you would like to contribute an article, photograph, art or other work to our blog, please feel free to send it or drop it off at the office.  We’d love to see it 🙂