Death, Dying and Intellectual Disability Research

In the 10 years since it was claimed that death and dying were perhaps too emotive and certainly too incongruous for intellectual disability researchers (Todd 2002), there has been a small but growing international interest in this field of study. This changing attitude towards death and dying within intellectual disability has been marked by two key events. Firstly, a changed view on what counts as a 'significant death'. Secondly, there has been an acceptance that the deaths and periods of dying people with intellectual disability present important personal, academic and professional challenges.