Simpson Murray
School of Education, Social Work and Community Education, The University of Dundee, UK.
Intellect Dev Disabil. 2007 Feb;45(1):23-32. doi: 10.1352/1934-9556(2007)45[23:DCOI]2.0.CO;2.
In dominant definitions of mental retardation, researchers have insisted on the diagnosis being restricted to conditions manifested during the developmental period. However, even in the 19th century, this was only one of several conceptual options, some of which did not exclude adult brain injury or dementia. Events in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly with the growth of institutions, scientific study, and, later, intelligence testing led to these other options being excluded. Here, I discuss the proposal that current definitions are highly contingent on factors that are neither essential nor necessary. Although not arguing for any specific changes to current definitions, I do argue that theoretical options should be kept open and that dominant ones should be questioned.
在智力迟钝的主流定义中，研究人员一直坚持将诊断限制在发育时期出现的病症上。然而，即使在19世纪，这也只是几种概念选择之一，其中一些并不排除成人脑损伤或痴呆症。19世纪和20世纪初的事件，特别是随着机构的发展、科学研究以及后来的智力测试，导致这些其他选择被排除。在此，我讨论这样一种观点，即当前的定义在很大程度上取决于既非本质也非必要的因素。虽然我并不主张对当前定义进行任何具体的更改，但我确实认为应该保持理论选择的开放性，并且对主流定义提出质疑。
