The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability

by Mark Rapley

Overview

A range of case studies, drawing upon ethnomethodological and conversation analytic scholarship, reveals how persons categorized as "intellectually disabled" are actually defined through their interaction with care staff and other professionals. Intellectual disability is usually thought of as a form of internal, individual affliction, differing little from diabetes, paralysis or chronic illness. This study's application of discursive psychology to intellectual disability demonstrates that what is usually understood as being an individual problem is actually an interactional or social product.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521005296
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/10/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Mark Rapley is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Murdoch University. His work applies discursive psychology to questions of power, in particular the interactional and rhetorical production of persons with intellectual disabilities, the 'mentally ill' and Aboriginal Australians. His most recent books are Quality of Life Research: A Critical Introduction (2003) and, with Susan Hansen and Alex McHoul, Beyond Help: A Consumer's Guide to Psychology (2003).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; A note on the cover; A note on transcription notation; Introduction; 1. A discursive psychological approach; 2. Intellectual disability as diagnostic and social category; 3. The interactional production of 'dispositional' characteristics: or why saying 'yes' to one's interrogators may be a smart strategy; 4. Matters of identity; 5. Talk to dogs, infants and...; 6. A deviant case (co-written with Alec McHoul); 7. Some tentative conclusions; Appendices.

Editorial Reviews

'The book presents a timely challenge to our profession. Mark Rapley's writing just gets better: make sure you get the chance to learn from him.' Clinical Psychology

'… this is an excellent book. It is a timely reminder in an intellectual domain becoming increasingly deadlocked by polarising debate of the need for detailed empirical analysis.' Disability & Society

From the Publisher