By Carli Friedman, CQL Director of Research
This exploratory paper examines disability culture and identity for people with intellectual disability. In doing so, we argue that the stigma around intellectual disability severely impacts people with intellectual disability’s sense of culture and identity. This stigma causes internalized ableism and leads to people with intellectual disability disassociating from others with intellectual disability in an attempt to cope with this stigma. True community inclusion for people with intellectual disability can only occur when this stigma is removed. Fortunately, as we argue, the self-advocacy movement is making great strides in doing so. The self-advocacy movement must be supported in order to achieve true inclusion and a sense of culture and identity for people with intellectual disability.
This article is a summary of the following journal manuscript: Spassiani, N. A., & Friedman, C. (2014). Stigma: Barriers to culture and identity for people with intellectual disability. Inclusion, 2(4), 329-341. https://doi.org/10.1352/2326-6988-2.4.329
Stigma and Intellectual Disability