The Story of Intellectual Disability: An Evolution of Meaning, Understanding, and Public Perception

Ellis M. (Pat) Craig, PhD, retired in 2003 after 36 years of service from the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. Dr. Craig currently consults as a psychologist for intellectual disability programs, conducting diagnostic assessments and behavior programming. In addition to authoring 22 book chapters and articles in professional journals, Dr. Craig has made presentations at numerous conferences. He has served as president of the AAIDD Psychology Division as well as president of state and regional AAIDD chapters and is a coauthor of the AAIDD Supports Intensity Scale.

Dianne L. Ferguson, PhD, is professor and director of program improvement and accreditation at Chapman University. She brings expertise and experience in the areas of school reform, inclusive practices, teacher education, families, and disability studies. She is experienced at preparing teachers and designing systems and approaches that support and sustain ongoing school improvement efforts that are inclusive of very diverse groups of children, youth, and their families. As a parent of a young man with significant disabilities, she has worked with families, schools, and service systems. She is currently on the board of a nonprofit organization that provides self-directed support services to adults with disabilities in Eugene, Oregon. Dr. Ferguson has taught classes and provided consultation for general and special educators in Canada, Iceland (as a Fulbright Scholar), Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark (also as a Fulbright Scholar), New Zealand, and India as well as in numerous states in the United States. Her areas of interest and expertise include issues and strategies for school inclusion for students with disabilities, family experience and the relationships between school personnel and families, administrator and teacher support for licensure and professional development and collaboration, and use of interpretivist research methods in education. She has served as a college administrator and consultant on higher education reform, teacher education reform, licensure reform, and ongoing assessment of teacher quality. Dr. Ferguson has published widely, is the author or co-editor of seven books, and serves as an associate editor or on the editorial board of four professional journals.

Philip M. Ferguson, PhD, is a professor in the College of Educational Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California. In addition to the history of disability, his research is focused on family/professional interactions and support policy, social policy, and qualitative research methods in disability studies and education. In addition to numerous articles, book chapters, and monographs, Dr. Ferguson’s publications includeAbandoned to Their Fate: Social Policy and Practice Toward Severely Disabled Persons, 1820-1920—a book and accompanying video on the history of individuals with intellectual disability and their families.

Steven Noll, PhD, is senior lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Florida, where he teaches American history, Florida history, and the history of disability. He is currently working on a history of the 1977 disability rights protests, tentatively titled Nothing About Us Without Us. He is also the author of Feeble-Minded in Our Midst: Institutions for the Mentally Retarded in the South, 1900-1940 (1995) and coeditor (with James Trent) ofMental Retardation in America: A Historical Reader (2004).

Robert L. Schalock, PhD, is professor emeritus at Hastings College (Nebraska), where he chaired the Psychology Department and directed the Cognitive Behavior Lab from 1967 to 2000. Since 1972, his work has focused on the development and evaluation of community-based programs for people with disabilities and the key role that the concept of quality of life