Peer relations are of great importance during adolescence. Belonging to a group and feelings of acceptance or rejection by other members are paramount. The article explores the attitudes of 792 hearing students from 10 to 20 years of age in 22 different schools in Spain toward the classroom mainstreaming of deaf students. In general terms, the results, obtained from a scale similar to the Likert and consisting of 19 questions, show that the deaf student is well received socially by hearing classmates. Hearing students in general felt that deaf students might be better looked after at a special school and that deaf students did not work as hard as hearing students. Young female hearing students reported the strongest support for mainstreaming of deaf students. Teachers were perceived as dedicated and patient.
During the building of self-concept, one's self-perception is influenced by the attitudes and levels of acceptance of significant individuals in one's immediate environment and in society as a whole. This study explores the social image of the deaf, beginning with an analysis of personality characteristics attributed to this group. The resulting profile is then compared to those of two other previously assessed groups: the blind and those with no sensory disability. A sample of 222 university students evaluated personality descriptors as applied to the three groups by means of a semantic differential. For certain personality descriptors, the students had different impressions of the three groups. Results show that certain negative stereotypes still mark the social representation of deafness. Instances of familiarity or friendship between haring people and deaf people serve generally to mitigate such stereotypes
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