By Dana S. Dunn, PhD
American Psychological Association
June 22, 2022
Whether it is congenital (present at birth) or acquired (via accident or disease), a disability is bound up with the life of a disabled person, but it is still only one of many personal qualities possessed by an individual. Disability only becomes salient to a disabled person when some aspect of the environment—an inaccessible building or a curious comment or inappropriate question from a bystander—makes it so. The experience of most people with disabilities is generally not what most nondisabled people assume: Contrary to everyday beliefs and expectations, people with disabilities lead full and varied lives.
Situational factors
Where disability is concerned, everyday situational factors, including barriers, whether actual (e.g., lack of an entry ramp) or perceived (e.g., “unfriendly” facial expressions) have considerable influence on the lived experience of disabled persons. We do not say that people are “handicapped” by their disabilities; rather, the nature of the built world is handicapping to them. Clearly, the constructed environment was designed for nondisabled people and not, for example, people who use wheelchairs or those who walk with crutches or canes.
Yet some nondisabled observers may ignore or downplay the influence of situations or environmental factors on disabled people’s behavior. For example, someone might focus on qualities attributable to the person with a disability, especially presumed personality characteristics. If a wheelchair user cannot cross a street (e.g., no curb cut is there) or get inside a car (e.g., the seats cannot be moved sufficiently), observers may see the problem as residing in the person—“they must be frustrated about what they can’t do!”—and not the environment. Because disabled people can appear different than nondisabled people, and because humans are curious, nondisabled people may stare and imagine what having a disability must be like. Given the explicit and implicit biases that exist in our society, nondisabled people may assume that having a disability is negative and that it prevents one from living a fulfilling life, neither of which is necessarily true.
Categorization and stereotyping
The real or perceived presence of a disability can lead nondisabled people to automatically categorize disabled people as members of an outgroup (i.e., a different group than nondisabled people inhabit). One aspect of this routine social categorization process is essentialism, where the disability is automatically highlighted over all other qualities possessed by the person. In effect, the person is equated with or seen exclusively in terms of disability. That one quality spreads to all other qualities and is assumed to affect them. For example, someone might presume that disfluent speech following a stroke reflects lowered intelligence when that is generally not the case. A stroke can selectively impact speech production ability while still preserving memory, knowledge, and other cognitive skills.
Changing minds
Psychologists suggest that increasing contact between people who are different from one another can lead to more harmonious feelings and behaviors. This contact hypothesis has been verified in over 500 research studies where meaningful contact between diverse groups leads to positive outcomes. In both controlled and field settings, this intergroup contact theory finds favorable attitude change where race, ethnicity, mental illness, age, people with HIV/AIDs, LGBTQ individuals, and people with disabilities are concerned.
Changing people’s minds positively happens when:
Interaction is personal: Contact is one-on-one so that nondisabled individuals can engage with disabled individuals.
People are equal: Individuals from each group are seen as having equal rank or social standing.
Social norms exist: Expected behavior in a given situation promotes contact between respective group members.
Cooperative activities occur: Individuals from each group work together on some project to realize shared, specific goals.
Follow-up
Take a few minutes and imagine a situation where a nondisabled person and a disabled individual could work on a common project and get to know one another in the process. What sort of problem could they work on together?
Once you decide, consider these questions:
Their interaction will be personal—what can or will make it so?
Explain how they will be equals in the situation—how will you establish equality?
Identify and describe the social norms that will be in play—what are they and why?
Describe the cooperative activities that will take place in some detail.
Remember: You are using your imagination here, so you can be creative in your answers to these questions. When you finish, ask yourself this: How can this activity be broadened and applied to other disabled and nondisabled people who can learn from one another?
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