This entry discusses adult literacy, conceptualizations of adult literacy within the sociocultural milieu for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD), and how an expanded conceptualization of adult literacy can provide individuals with ID/DD meaningful opportunities and an improved quality of life. Scholars consider literacy acquisition a social practice whereby an individual actively interacts with the community through a variety of mediums including print, visual, written, or digital texts. Whereas literacy has traditionally been defined narrowly as the ability to read, recent theory and research argue for a broader definition of literacy as the act of meaning making through which individuals understand the world.

Recent research has challenged narrow constructions of the term literacy by advocating for an elaborate definition that encompasses the sociocultural milieu of ...