Cite
Watts, Graeme. “Intellectual Disability and Spiritual Development.” Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability 36, no. 4 (December 2011): 234–41. https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2011.617731.
Jeremy
Synth
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FirstAuthor:: Watts, Graeme
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Title:: Intellectual Disability and Spiritual Development
Year:: 2011
Citekey:: wattsIntellectualDisabilitySpiritual2011
itemType:: journalArticle
Journal:: Journal of intellectual & developmental disability
Volume:: 36
Issue:: 4
Pages:: 234-241
DOI:: 10.3109/13668250.2011.617731
LINK
Abstract
Linking the concepts of intellectual disability and spiritual development creates a challenging mixture of sociological and theological issues. Formal definitions of the concepts can be less than conclusive but it remains a fundamental issue to consider if there may be some minimal level of intellectual competence below which it is not feasible to anticipate a spiritual awareness. This issue is particularly challenging in the context of those with a profound level of intellectual disability. The acknowledgement of an inner spiritual state, which some call soul, is pivotal to addressing this challenge. It is then proposed that through reference to the language of symbols, to the openness of a child-like mindset, and to the influence of close personal relationships, spiritual awareness may be stimulated and developed. .
Notes
Jeremy’s Review
This paper is about understanding the spiritual capacity of those with intellectual disabilities. The author’s conclusion is that every person has the capacity of having a spiritual awareness and the capacity for growth apart from intelligence. This paper quotes a variety of books in their work.
Annotations
Imported: 2023-10-29 11:04 pm
Quote
However, the case for spiritual capacity as a separate form of intelligence is not without support. In a special issue of the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion published in 2000, Robert Emmons contends that spirituality as a concept does, in general, meet the criteria to be recognised as a form of intelligence. Emmons defines spiritual intelligence “as the adaptive use of spiritual information to facilitate everyday problem solving and goal attainment” (Emmons, 2000, p. 59), and in so doing supports his case through reference to the specific criteria employed by Howard Gardner (1999) in developing his influential position on multiple intelligences.
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At this stage it would seem reasonable to conclude that while spiritual awareness is undoubtedly influenced by cognitive capacity, it is as much influenced by family and personal relationships, by experience, by faith, and by what may be called revelation, and as such extends beyond the realm of valid measurement.
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- Spiritual awareness is different than any another type of intelligence as it is reliant about something supernatural in relation to other areas of life.
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Throughout the Code, it is systematically projected that a person deemed to lack the use of reason should be regarded as an infant (Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1995). This certainly does not imply that lacking the use of reason places the person outside a spiritual dimension, but it does pose a question as to spiritual awareness, let alone spiritual development.
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- The Catholic church can judge people on the use of reason (or age of reason). This is determined by the parents and ultimately the parish priest. This doesn’t mean someone can not be spiritual, but they exist in a different “status” in the eyes of the church.
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John Macquarrie addresses this point in his Theological Reflections on Disability: That is why we can never degrade a human being to mere thing-hood … Even when all natural possibilities have been reduced to the lowest conceivable level, when sight and thought and movement and decision are all in abeyance, for the Christian, one has still not come to the point when that person can be written off as nothing or merely past, for the Christian believes in resurrection, and in the widest sense, that simply means that God can still bring forth something new. (Macquarrie, 1995, p. 29)
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- People are people, no matter their intellectual abilities. They can not be reduced to an object as they are created by God and God can bring about new things through people.
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t is my conviction, and the pivotal point of my view on intellectual disability and spirituality, that even at a seemingly bedrock existence, every person is not without a spiritual nature.
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Soul is an aspect of the human being which is ultimately transcendent in nature and is essentially a spiritual concept.
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- Every person has a soul, that is spiritual in of itself.
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First, as a means of enhancing communication with people with an intellectual disability, there is significant potential in exploring the use of symbols rather than words.
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- Things besides words can be used for communication. Symbols can help to tell stories, teach lessons, and impart spiritual truths to people.
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This view is not without challenge. In any review of this subject, Martin Luther is always guaranteed a reference for his apparent harsh advice that since a 12-year-old child with an intellectual disability was perceived as having no capacity for spiritual growth he should be taken away and drowned. Luther was firmly of the opinion that such changelings were merely a mass of flesh, a massa carnis, with no soul. For it is in the Devil’s power that he corrupts people who have reason and souls when he possesses them. The Devil sits in such changelings where their soul should have been. (Webb-Mitchell, 1994, p. 65)
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- Martin Luther (and John Locke) disagree and say that if a person is perceived as having no capacity for spiritual growth, they are nothing more than a perversion of the Devil.
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That people with an intellectual disability, especially those with profound impairment, can relate to symbols and nonverbal experiences, and through such experiences awaken a sense of spirituality, may indeed be as much a hope as an expectation.Yet in the mystery which accompanies spiritual growth, it is a hope which deserves nurturing and its potential explored.
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- Whenever we talk about spiritual growth, it is important to recognize that it is not our doing. Growth takes shape in many ways and we can never really know the full depth of the growth for someone else.
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In addition to the language of symbols, there is a case which can be made for the advantage of an open child-like mindset in promoting spiritual awareness. While clearly not of the same character as being child-like, there is a long Christian spiritual tradition
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in which clearing the mind of intellectual striving is a prerequisite to spiritual growth. In this tradition, the concept of the Divine is too challenging to be grasped through intellectual effort but rather only by a passive openness to receive God’s revelation.
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- Emptying of oneself to achieve spiritual growth must be done so earnestly and fully. To be child-like is to have the capacity to learn and grow.
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It is my conclusion that even in a person with profound intellectual disability, there exists a reflection of the image of God and a spiritual dimension, which some choose to call a soul, possessing the potential for spiritual awareness and development. This dimension is open to communication, and, importantly, such persons may act on others as something of a passive spiritual guide operating independently of that person’s intelligence or conscious will, but simply through that person’s act of being.
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Still, even in the context of such generalisations, it would be fair to observe that both historical and contemporary Christian theology have been relatively silent about the spiritual growth of persons with intellectual disability. Similarly, it would be flying in the face of reality to claim that there were no doubts about, or even outright rejection of, persons with an intellectual disability as being spiritually aware.
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- It is a disservice to those with intellectual disabilities when the church ignores their spiritual growth.
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For some, the concept of disability, across all its manifestations, is too easily connected to spiritual disability. For those with an intellectual disability, especially those with a profound disability, the struggle for recognition as individuals with a spiritual dimension is a poignant challenge.
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- People see disability and believe it is a handicap in all areas of life, when in reality, the spiritual intellect can be totally separate from intelligence.