Intellectual Disability or Learning Disability? Let’s Talk Some More

Abstract

At the 47th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability held in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2012, self-advocates from the “Let’s Talk” forum clearly stated to the assembled delegates their desire that the term learning disability be adopted in place of intellectual disability. This paper reviews the various terms and definitions used to refer to what we currently call intellectual disability. The implications of the term learning disability are considered both in terms of the draft proposal of the World Health Organization’s recommendation in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) that the term intellectual developmental disorders replace the term mental retardation, and in terms of the increasing worldwide acceptance of the term intellectual disability, following the passing of Rosa’s Law in the United States of America in 2009.

Keywords:

• intellectual disability
• self-advocacy
• WHO ICD-11
• intellectual developmental disorders
• intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)
• learning disability
• DSM-VI
• DSM-5

Notes

1 ICD: International Classification of Diseases; International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems; ICD-10: International Classification of Diseases (Tenth Revision); ICD-11: International Classification of Diseases (Eleventh Revision).

2 DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition); DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition).