Not like us? Wolfensberger’s ‘major historic roles’ reconsidered

Abstract

This interdisciplinary article revisits and re-evaluates an element of conceptual theory devised by Wolf Wolfensberger (1934–2011), one of the founding fathers of disability studies. Wolfensberger devised a typology which sought to historically position the ways in which disabled people, particularly those with intellectual impairments, have been viewed, perceived, stigmatised and (mis)used by wider society. Given that the academic, professional and practical landscape of disability studies has changed markedly over the last several decades, it is useful to revisit and reinterpret past ideas to test their ability to inform our current understandings. Using two recent examples from the United Kingdom of when care provision for people with intellectual impairments and complex needs has gone wrong, this article re-evaluates Wolfensberger’s typology and concludes that it remains of relevance and should continue to inform our thinking.

Keywords:

• Wolfensberger
• major historic roles
• intellectual impairment
• labelling
• abuse