The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability

260 Pages·2004·1.45 MB·English

by  Mark Rapley

This page intentionally left blank
The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability
Intellectualdisabilityisusuallythoughtofasaformofinternal,individ-
ualaffliction,littledifferentfromdiabetes,paralysisorchronicillness.
This study, the first book-length application of discursive psychology
to intellectual disability, shows that what we usually understand to be
an individual problem is actually an interactional, or social, product.
Througharangeofcasestudies,whichdrawuponethnomethodological
andconversationanalyticscholarship,thebookshowshowpersonscate-
gorisedas‘intellectuallydisabled’areproduced,assuch,inandthrough
theirmoment-by-momentinteractionwithcarestaffandotherprofes-
sionals.MarkRapleyextendsandreformulatescurrentworkindisability
studiesandoffersareconceptualisationofintellectualdisabilityasboth
aprofessionallyascribeddiagnosticcategoryandanaccomplished–and
contested – social identity. Importantly, the book is grounded in data
drawnfromnaturallyoccurring,ratherthanprofessionallyorchestrated,
socialinteraction.
  isAssociateProfessorofPsychologyatMurdochUni-
versity. His work applies discursive psychology to questions of power,
inparticulartheinteractionalandrhetoricalproductionofpersonswith
intellectualdisabilities,the‘mentallyill’andAboriginalAustralians.His
most recent books are Quality of Life Research: A Critical Introduction
(2003) and, with Susan Hansen and Alec McHoul, Beyond Help: A
Consumer’sGuidetoPsychology(2003).

The Social Construction of
Intellectual Disability
Mark Rapley
MurdochUniversity
WesternAustralia
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521809009
© Mark Rapley 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
isbn-13 978-0-511-21059-4 eBook (EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-21236-4
eBook (EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-80900-9 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-80900-2 hardback
isbn-13 978-0-521-00529-6 paperback
isbn-10 0-521-00529-9 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
To my late friend and colleague
Hanneke Houtkoop
Understandingislikenight.Interpretationislikeday.
(HughMehanandHoustonWood,1975:193)
Contents
Acknowledgements page viii
Anoteonthecoverillustration ix
Anoteontranscriptionnotation x
Introduction 1
1 Adiscursivepsychologicalapproach 8
2 Intellectualdisabilityasdiagnosticandsocialcategory 30
3 Theinteractionalproductionof‘dispositional’
characteristics:orwhysaying‘yes’toone’s
interrogatorsmaybesmartstrategy 78
4 Mattersofidentity 111
5 Talktodogs,infantsand... 142
6 Adeviantcase(writtenwithAlecMcHoul) 181
7 Sometentativeconclusions 196
Appendices 210
References 219
Index 238
vii
Acknowledgements
This work would not have been possible without the intellectual gen-
erosity and support of a number of people. In particular, I owe an
immensedebttoCharlesAntaki,HannekeHoutkoopandAlecMcHoul.
Aswillalsobecomeevident,mythinkinghasalsobeenmuchinfluenced
by Martha Augoustinos, Derek Edwards, Jonathan Potter and Margie
Wetherell.Ithankthemfortheirgenerosity;asalways,errors,omissions,
misreadingsandotherhowlersremainmine.
This book draws together and consolidates work from a project that
hasspannedthelasttenyears.Assuch,versionsofsomeofthematerial
in this book have previously appeared in journal article format: specifi-
cally, chapter 3 draws upon Rapley and Antaki (1996), A conversation
analysisofthe‘acquiescence’ofpeoplewithlearningdisabilities,Journal
ofCommunityandAppliedSocialPsychology,6:207–27.Chapter4extends
Rapley,KiernanandAntaki(1998),Invisibletothemselvesornegotiating
identity?Theinteractionalmanagementof‘beingintellectuallydisabled’,
DisabilityandSociety,13,5:807–27.Chapter6drawsuponandextends
McHoul and Rapley (2002), ‘Should we make a start then?’: a strange
caseofa(delayed)client-initiatedpsychologicalassessment,Researchon
LanguageandSocialInteraction,35,1:73–91.Iamgratefultotherespec-
tivepublishersfortheirpermissiontore-usethiswork.
I should also like to record my thanks to Patrick Kiernan and Erica
Usher for their invaluable contributions to my work; to Sarah Caro at
Cambridge University Press for her forbearance and to Susan Beer for
hertirelessandpainstakingworkonthetypescript.
Finally, I would like to thank Susan Hansen for her support, encour-
agementandendurance.
viii