In this paper, the authors review life stories in learning disability research and practice since the 1960s. Although there is consistent evidence of their value in giving people a voice and an identity beyond the service label, they are not widely used in the provision of health and social care. This is despite long-standing policy commitments to…

This article was first written as a presentation to the International Seminar held at the Open University in July 2008. It is based on cooperation between two women, Eyglo Ebba Hreinsdottir and Gudrun Stefansdottir, one who lived at an institution and another who worked there. Ebba moved to an institution in 1969 when she was 19 years old. Gudrun…

Lauretta Bender's experiences as a bright child struggling with specific learning problems and her subsequent work in language disorders are described. Her recognition of the biological nature of a group of learning disorders for which there was no clinical evidence of structural damage to the central nervous system is emphasized. (JDD)

The possibility that four famous men--Thomas Alva Edison, Woodrow Wilson, Hans Christian Andersen, and Leonardo da Vinci--might have been reading disabled is considered by examining information concerning: (1) biographical records, (2) cognitive characteristics, (3) neuropsychological characteristics, and (4) biological characteristics. (Author/DB)

The problem of overrepresentation of students of color within special education classrooms persists, maintaining levels of segregation based on disability and/or race within widespread schooling practices. The voices of such students and how they understand their position in the education system are noticeably absent from traditional scholarship.…