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On not being noticed: intellectual disabilities and the non-vocal register

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journal contribution
posted on 2010-01-15, 16:08 authored by W.M.L. Finlay, Charles Antaki, Chris Walton
Gestures unaccompanied by sound risk not being registered by their intended recipient. We chart examples of this in a video recording of a meeting between people with intellectual disabilities and support staff in a group home. The recordings reveal that even individuals with very limited spoken language can, and do, design non-vocal gestures to make intelligible contributions to the conversation as it is unfolding. But they are often unseen. Were such contributions to be noticed and taken up, we argue, they would reveal a variety of substantive contributions to the interaction, notably residents' concerns to display their understanding of the current topic and its interactional requirements, for themselves and others. We consider whether, and how, such unratified contributions may arise out of a dilemma faced by staff, and manifest a diminished identity that staff members (and researchers) unwittingly impose on residents.

Funding

The research reported was facilitated by grant number Res-148-25-0002 from the United Kingdom ESRC.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies

Citation

FINLAY, W.M.L., ANTAKI, C., WALTON, C., 2007. On not being noticed: intellectual disabilities and the non-vocal register. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 45 (4), pp. 227-245.

Publisher

© American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2007

Notes

This is the authors' final version of an article published in the journal, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Copyright 2007 by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Posted electronically with permission. The definitive version of this article is available from: http://aaidd.allenpress.com/aamronline/?request=get-current-issue

ISSN

1934-9556

Language

  • en