intellectual disability

American  

[in-tl-ek-choo-uhl dis-uh-bil-i-tee] / ˌɪn tlˈɛk tʃu əl ˌdɪs əˈbɪl ɪ ti /

noun

1. a developmental disorder characterized in varying degrees by significant limitations on intellectual abilities, such as learning, problem solving, and reasoning, and on adaptive abilities such as social and practical skills: the diagnostic term intellectual disability replaced the older designation mental retardation in the 2010s. ID

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Etymology

Origin of intellectual disability

First recorded in 1805–10

Example Sentences

But the court offered no bright line definition of what would count as an intellectual disability of sufficient seriousness to take the death penalty off the table.

From Slate

Large numbers of those who commit capital crimes suffer from an intellectual disability.

From Slate

In assessing how those standards play out in the context of intellectual disability, the Supreme Court made clear in 2014 that states could not use “IQ score as conclusive evidence of intellectual capacity.”

From Slate

Florida opinion, the court noted, “Current thinking does not regard this strict cutoff as proper or humane. When a defendant’s IQ test score falls within the test’s acknowledged and inherent margin of error, the defendant must be able to present additional evidence of intellectual disability, including testimony regarding adaptive deficits.”

From Slate

That is why the relevant clinical authorities all agree that an individual with an IQ score above 70 may properly be diagnosed with intellectual disability if significant limitations in adaptive functioning also exist.”

From Slate

Related Words

• cognitive impairment
• debilitation
• impairment
• incapacitation
• limitation
• restriction