Construction of intellectual disability: (de)construction of the social role of intellectually disabled persons

Abstract

The article describes the construction of the meaning of intellectual disability in a postmodernist society. It describes the means by which the socio-cultural conditions of postmodern Poland ascribe the position of the intellectually disabled in society, and how the realization of social support may legitimize the meaning of the intellectually disabled. Two questions were considered deeply: is this situation truly inevitable? And, is it possible for people described as intellectually disabled to play a valuable social role? In this research, I point out the usefulness of one of the proposed theories regarding the inclusion of the intellectually disabled into normal social life; the Wolfensberg's Social Role Valorization (SRV) theory. By using the deconstructive ‘recoding’ of this theory, the reader is left to estimate it by him/herself. I attempt to discuss the ‘values’ and ‘truths’ involved in this theory. From the perspective of a Polish researcher, I considered if it is righteous or even possible to ask the intellectually disabled to change themselves in order to meet social standards?