This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by May, D. Articles by Simpson, M. K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The parent trap: marriage, parenthood and adulthood for people with intellectual disabilities

University of Dundee

Murray K. Simpson

University of Dundee

One of the most telling indicators of change in the status of people with intellectual disabilities is in the regulation of their sexuality, reproduction and parenting. There is far greater recognition of certain basic rights that people with intellectual disabilities share with everyone else. This article traces the broad shifts in thinking about sexuality and parenting and intellectual disability over the past 100 years or so. The changes in the past 30 years are given particular attention as rights to marriage, then sexuality and, most recently, parenting came to be widely recognized. Without questioning the value of these changes, the article shows how they also exhibit changing targets and methods of regulation and not simply progressive moves away from control per se. The extent to which access to sexuality and parenthood can be construed as a diminution of the significance of intellectual disability as a social status is therefore questioned.

Key Words: learning disability • reproduction • sexuality • social control • social work

Critical Social Policy, Vol. 23, No. 1, 25-43 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/026101830302300102


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?