Nonverbal Narratives: Listening to People with Severe Intellectual Disability

Abstract

This article describes an exploratory study that examined the perspectives of practitioners who spend much of their working day listening to and in some ways “interpreting” for people with severe intellectual disabilities. On the basis of focus group interviews with 23 professional disability-sector workers, including speech therapists, psychologists, and human service workers, the article reports on the importance of a practitioner's values and experience in successful interactions with individuals who rely on self-developed nonsymbolic communication repertoires. The article includes a discussion of the likelihood of including individuals with severe intellectual disabilities in narrative research.