Death does not become us: the absence of death and dying in intellectual disability research

Author:
TODD Stuart
Journal article citation:
Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 38(1/2), 2002, pp.225-239.
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis
Place of publication:
Philadelphia, USA

The social issues of death, dying and bereavement represent important but neglected research areas, and such issues need attention both for practical reform and for deciphering what living with intellectual disability entails. The difficulties which life poses for people with intellectual disabilities may well persist in the times before and after death. As research issues they offer not only potential practical significance, but also a means of determining the social status and value of people with intellectual disabilities. This paper reviews the issues of death and dying from the viewpoint of sociological research and seeks to identify the ways death and dying have been treated within the research literature on living with intellectual disability. It is suggested that these issues have been discounted with some important consequences for the way intellectualdisability is perceived.

Subject terms:
learning disabilities, older people, quality of life, sociology, bereavement, death, dying;
Content type:
research
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
1540-4048
ISSN print:
0163-4372

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