Sociocultural study of intellectual disability: moving beyond labelling and social constructionist perspectives

Summary This paper outlines the development of the sociocultural study of people with an intellectual disability, focusing in particular on the pioneering work of Robert Edgerton, Robert Bogdan and Steven Taylor, David Goode and John Gleason. 1 As part of this analysis, I shall critically assess the contributions and limitations of these authors. I argue that the parameters of the debate have tended to become too rigid. The sociocultural study of intellectual disability has mostly focused on the experiences of people with mild intellectual disabilities, extrapolating from these experiences conclusions about the nature of intellectual disability in general, while the experiences and life worlds of those whose impairments are severe, profound, and often multiple, are often ignored. However, the portrayal and analysis of such people's lives are essential for our greater understanding and appreciation of intellectual disability, and of human difference in all its diverse manifestations. It is also essential for understanding, accepting and respecting people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, and recognizing that such people are already living socially meaningfully lives as they are, despite not conforming to the dominant and socially prescribed norms and expectations of meaningful action and behaviour. 2 The methodological and theoretical tools that are required to engage with and interpret such lives, however, are profoundly different to those used by the majority of sociocultural theorists in the field, as shall be discussed below.