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Forms of resistance in people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities
Author(s) -
Nicholson Clare,
Finlay W. Mick L.,
Stagg Steven
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.13246
Subject(s) - resistance (ecology) , intellectual disability , conversation , psychology , ethnography , government (linguistics) , conversation analysis , developmental psychology , social psychology , sociology , communication , psychiatry , linguistics , ecology , philosophy , anthropology , biology
Government policy in the UK emphasises that people with intellectual disabilities should have the opportunity to make choices and exert control over their own lives as much as possible. The ability of a person to resist activities and offers is therefore important, particularly for people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, who are likely to have language impairments and need to communicate their choices non‐verbally. Video and ethnographic data were collected from two services for people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. Examples of resistance by people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities and responses to that resistance by support workers were collected and examined using conversation analysis and ethnographic description. A range of non‐verbal resistance behaviours are described, and the difficulty for support workers in identifying resistance when behaviour is ambiguous is discussed. The importance of understanding these behaviours as examples of decision‐making is stressed.