Intellectual disability and decision making-processes: Are we facing the challenge of educating for autonomy?

Abstract

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to discuss and analyze the issue of autonomy and the process of decision-making in intellectual disability, refl ecting on possible ways to balance the need and the right to self-determination of people with disabilities and their particular intellectual engagement in the world. Methodologically it is a critical and refl ective literature review, outlined in the following categories: (a) understanding the concepts of autonomy and decision-making as socio-historical processes, linked to the subjects’ circumstantiality, (b) possible relationships to be established between these concepts, thus conceived, and intellectual disabilities and (c) the proposition of actions and refl ections capable of propelling the decisional autonomy of the intellectually disabled. The theoretical framework is based on “non-rational” decision-making theories, on the systemic developmental perspective on human development and on a personcentered educational philosophy for the disabled. As a result it asserts that making choices and decisions, self-determining oneself constitutes a sociocultural learning process, in which the person with intellectual disabilities should be involved. Educational proposals should address this concern, in all areas of life. This constitutes a fundamental right of people with disabilities.

Keywords: intellectual disability, decision-making process, autonomy.