Video #31 – Five Strengths of the Intellectually Disabled

In this video I discuss the strengths associated with intellectual disabilities. It is especially important to do this because people with intellectual disabilities have been denegrated for over a century because of the dark history of I.Q. testing in America, wherein eugenically-minded psychologists used words like ”moron” and ”imbecile” to describe these individuals, and where the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927 affirmed a state’s right to sterilize a woman who it deemed ”feebleminded.” Fortunately, there’s a new attitude toward strength-based learning. I focus on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, where instead of I.Q. intelligence there are eight intelligences that provide a wide spectrum within which to see a person’s full potentials. In this video I talk about five areas of strength: dramatic expression, musical capability, artistic ability, entrepreneurial savvy, and human warmth and friendliness. I highlight several people with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome, showing how they have become successful in acting, music, creating their own businesses, and being strong advocates for their form of neurodivergence.