ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the social, cultural, political, and economic aspects and elements of the foundation matrix of Ireland, and how these impact upon attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities. It explores the idea that these matrices can be understood in terms of the social unconscious of the English and Irish peoples. In England and Wales, children and young people with diagnosed special education needs have a statutory right to education until age twenty-three. The social unconscious of the people of any country is constrained and restrained by the history and structure of its society. Both Irish and English peoples struggle to process unconscious fear and hatred of people with intellectual disabilities. Desire and disability are regarded as antithetical, the conflation of both being a challenge to societal notions of the disabled as being neutered, sexless creatures for whom desire can only be thought of as a form of sadistic attack.
