The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability

Description:

Intellectual disability is usually thought of as a form of internal, individual affliction, little different from diabetes, paralysis or chronic illness. This study, the first book-length application of discursive psychology to intellectual disability, shows that what we usually understand as being an individual problem is actually an interactional, or social, product. Through a range of case studies, which draw upon ethnomethodological and conversation analytic scholarship, the book shows how persons categorized as 'intellectually disabled' are produced, as such, in and through their moment-by-moment interaction with care staff and other professionals. Mark Rapley extends and reformulates current work in disability studies and offers a reconceptualisation of intellectual disability as both a professionally ascribed diagnostic category and an accomplished - and contested - social identity. Importantly, the book is grounded in data drawn from naturally-occurring, rather than professionally orchestrated, social interaction.

subjects: Nonfiction,  Psychology,  Group identity,  People with mental disabilities,  Social interaction,  Mental retardation,  Sociology of disability,  Social perception,  Persons with Mental Disabilities,  Interpersonal Relations,  Social Perception,  Social Identification,  Personnes ayant une déficience intellectuelle,  Interaction sociale,  Identité collective,  Perception sociale,  Mentally handicapped,  PSYCHOLOGY,  Mental Health,  Mental Illness,  MEDICAL,  Geistig behinderter Mensch,  Soziale Konstruktion,  Soziale Identität,  Geistige Behinderung