Kliewer, C., Biklen, D., & Petersen, A. (2015). At the End of Intellectual Disability. Harvard Educational Review, 85(1), 1–28.
The authors deconstruct the concept of intellectual disability by tracing the ways in which it has come to be defined as the lack of intellect and a disconnectedness from valued citizenship. They describe how the fields of psychology and special education have functioned to define and control this definition and reproduce assumptions about the non-humanness and incompetence of people who meet the definition of ID in the DSM. They suggest, that a radical shift in understanding ID, that is based on connectedness and presumed competence opens up new possibilities for people who have been defined by ID. The authors provide examples of how this radical ideology, that assumes competence and valued connectedness, provides experiences that support people to unlearn their assumptions about intellectual disability. They provide examples of how this radical shift has led to the emergence of new practices and pedagogies that resist the ideology of incompetence and instead reveal the competence and connectedness of people who have been defined by ID (E.g. Universal Design for Learning, augmented and alternative communication approaches). They add that this shift requires educators, policymakers and the public to reflect on their own assumptions and to be conscious of how the ideology of incompetence persists both consciously and unconsciously within ourselves and our institutions. This radical shift characterized the starting point for inclusive post-secondary, which presumes competence and valued connectedness to the mainstream post-secondary context.