Intellectual Disability and Space: Critical Narratives of Exclusion

The language of intellectual disability is rife with spatial terms. Students labeled with intellectual disability are "placed in" special education where they may be "self-contained," "segregated," "excluded," or "included." Conversations ensue about where to seat them, next to whom, and at what distance from the teacher and other students. In this article, critical spatial studies and critical narratives are used to illustrate the ways in which power and exclusion constitute intellectual disability.