Exploring Constructs of Intellectual Disability and Personhood in Haryana and Delhi

Nilika Mehrotra and Shubhangi Vaidya
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Nilika Mehrotra: Nilika Mehrotra is Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. E-mail: nilika21@yahoo.co.in.
Shubhangi Vaidya: Shubhangi Vaidya is Assistant Director, Regional Services Division, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. E-mail: shubhangi_v2000@yahoo.co.in.

Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 2008, vol. 15, issue 2, 317-340

Abstract: Intellectual disability is one of the least researched areas in social science inquiry. This paper traces the complex interplay between the concepts of intellectual disability, gender and personhood. It outlines the socio-historical and cross-cultural variability of intellectual disability, and its connections with class, urbanisation and modernisation. Based on ethnographic material on the disabled in Delhi and the neighbouring state of Haryana, it presents case studies of two NGOs working with the intellectually disabled, namely, Arpan, a school for the mentally retarded in Rohtak, Haryana, and Action for Autism in New Delhi. It engages specifically with the notion of masculinity and the manner in which intellectually disabled male adults are feminised and infantilised. An attempt is made to understand how disabled individuals and their families seek social spaces for themselves and negotiate the social compulsions for ‘normalcy’ and competent adulthood.

Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:indgen:v:15:y:2008:i:2:p:317-340

DOI: 10.1177/097152150801500206

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