ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the issue of oppression of people who have been labelled as having an intellectual disability. It considers the basis for that oppression in the intellectual heritage of modernity, particularly the association of reason with goodness and value, and then considers how this has manifest itself in specific oppressive practices such as segregation, abuse, socioeconomic deprivation, legal inequality, euthanasia and elimination. We will also consider briefly some possible pathways for emancipation and the role of social work both in the oppression and emancipation of people with intellectual disabilities. Finally it considers the more general question of difference and oppression and the commonality of the process of oppression across marginalised groups. In general the chapter deals with practices that have been consistent throughout western societies, although some variation will inevitably occur in degree and time scales. Examples will be largely drawn from the West, primarily the English-speaking countries. The basic ideas are, however, relevant not only to the West, but to modernity in its broadest sense.
