Monday, January 23, 2012

Books on Mentally Disabled Adults

The topic that I have chosen to research is Mentally Disabled Adults in Minnesota.  For this topic I have chosen to find some general background information, along with specific information on the adult population in Minnesota that is mentally disabled.  I feel that you can’t research one without looking into the other, because there are many points that can be talked about it my research paper.  To find information on my topic, first I started to look on the internet for any EBooks on the topic, but was not successful when typing in “mentally challenged adults” for the topic information or any information available in the OPAC or at least that I could find.  However, I did find many books that were all in the library, but was not successful with my first try, because I had some struggles, but the second time around I got it.    The way I searched on the website was with the website suggestion of “Mentally Disabled Adults” and “Books on Mentally Disabled Adults” and for both searches I was brought to a page that stated “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria”.  Both the Great River Regional Library System OPAC and the Miller Center Library OPAC gave me the same results.  I couldn’t find any books on either of the websites, because both stated that there were none to be found, which I found to be weird, because I figured that there would be a book on Mentally Disabled Adults if not on both of them, at least on one the websites.  My preference would have been to read an EBook, since I feel an EBook would just be easier because it would be available on your computer anytime and you wouldn’t have to try to remember to bring a text book along and you wouldn’t have to worry about returning the book to the library when done.  I did not find an EBook on my topic so therefore, I was not able to experience what it was like, but for my classes where I have had the articles to read online, I found it easier to follow along then a text book.  Also,  I  do not have a mobile device that I could read an EBook on, but if I could find one I would more than likely be able to use my iPod touch that I have to read it. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi Rebecca,

    Thank you for sharing your experience on looking for books about developmentally disabled adults. It seems that you had a tough time searching, due to the fact that the term "mentally disabled adult" or "mentally challenged adult" may be one that we use in everyday language, but may not be the term that the academic audience uses to describe this population.

    How would you go about finding alternate terms to describe "mentally disabled", in order to repeat your search for books?

    I look forward to your response!

    Sincerely,
    Professor Wexelbaum

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  2. In order to repeat my search for books I would use other ways to describe the mentally disabled such as "developmentally disabled adults" or "intellectually disabled adults".

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