The notion that people make choices and take actions that determine the outcomes of their lives – human agency – is a central principle of the life course paradigm. Unfortunately, conceptualizations of agency, like larger developmental and sociological theories, often assume that agency is limited to individuals who are “developmentally normal.” We draw upon the thought of social scientists and disability scholars, as well as the life history of a woman with intellectual disability, to address the logical, ethical, and empirical flaws of this assumption. To rectify these problems, life course theory and research should pay greater attention to how agency is interwoven with another central principle of the life course paradigm: linked lives. This principle is that an individual’s life cannot be understood in isolation of their interdependencies with other persons. Although human agency and linked lives are discussed as separate principles of the life course, they are not separate in lived experience. We demonstrate that, for all people and at all times in life, human agency is dependent upon interpersonal relationships. It is therefore imperative to examine intersections of agency and linked lives in order to more fully and accurately understand life course dynamics in diverse populations. Human agency is profoundly affected by interpersonal relationships and other social factors. Because agency and linked lives are inseparable, agency cannot be conceptualized as an individual characteristic of ‘independent’ actors. We conclude by discussing how life course research can more fully attend to the relationship between agency and linked lives.

人们做出的选择和采取的行动决定了他们生活的结果——人类能动性——这一观念是生命历程范式的核心原则。不幸的是，代理的概念化，就像更大的发展和社会学理论一样，通常假设代理仅限于“发育正常”的个人。我们借鉴社会科学家和残疾学者的思想，以及一名智障女性的生活史，来解决这一假设的逻辑、伦理和经验缺陷。为了纠正这些问题，生命历程理论和研究应该更多地关注能动性如何与生命历程范式的另一个核心原则交织在一起：联系生活。这个原则是，一个人的生活不能脱离他们与他人的相互依存关系来理解。尽管人类能动性和相关生命作为生命历程的独立原则进行讨论，但它们在生活体验中并不是分离的。我们证明，对于所有人和生命中的任何时候，人类能动性都取决于人际关系。因此，必须检查机构和相关生活的交叉点，以便更全面和准确地了解不同人群的生命历程动态。人的能动性深受人际关系和其他社会因素的影响。因为能动性与相关生活密不可分，所以不能将能动性概念化为“独立”行为者的个体特征。