Psychology's eugenic history and the invention of intellectual disability

Abstract

AbstractIntellectual disability is a severely understudied topic within psychology. It is rarely woven into the curriculum of mainstream psychology departments and often left for other disciplines to address. Despite this neglect within the field, historical figures within psychology helped invent and shaped the category of intellectual disability. In order to understand the depth of dehumanization experienced by those labeled as intellectually disabled, it is vital to trace the history of the category within psychology. This article offers a critical history of “intellectual disability” as an institutional category in the United States to better understand the outcome of a recent court case that considered the possibility of a sexual relationship between a man labeled as intellectually disabled and a woman who does not carry this label. To fully appreciate the meaning of the court case that concluded without ever engaging the man whose wellbeing it presumably concerned, psychology must be held accountable for its past and current entanglements with the eugenic project.