Making space for the 'intellectual' in geographies of disability

There is a growing body of work on geographies of deinstitutionalisation and its consequences, but the weight of this scholarship has focussed on people with mental health problems and physically disabled people. With only few exceptions, the 'post asylum geographies' of intellectually disabled people remain neglected by geographers. We advocate a redressing of this imbalance. First, we assess reasons for the relative absence of 'intellectual' considerations in geographies of disability. We then consider ways in which the full spectrum of those with mental differences might be included in geographical research. We conclude that Wolpert's call 25 years ago to 'open closed spaces' is just as applicable to our efforts to conceptually link health, place, and disability, as it is to the material welfare of vulnerable groups in society. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.