Casual interaction between college students with various disabilities and their nondisabled peers: The internal dialogue.

Abstract

Thoughts and feelings about casual social interaction between nondisabled college students and peers with various physical disabilities were explored in a sample of 127 nondisabled, 17 visually impaired, 10 hearing impaired, and 19 wheelchair-user college students. The results indicate that nondisabled students experienced more negative affect and thinking about interacting with students who have disabilities than with able-bodied peers; the nature of the disability made little difference. Thoughts and feelings of students with and without disabilities concerning interacting with able-bodied peers were generally similar. These findings suggest that difficulties between college students with and without disabilities during casual social interactions are due, primarily, to the nature of nondisabled individuals' cognitions and affect. Recommendations for future research and for the design of attitude change programming to facilitate interaction are made. Many nondisabled people are uncomfortable with those who have disabilities (Fichten, Tagalakis, & Amsel, 1989; Marinelli & Kelz, 1973) and casual social interaction between individuals with and without disabilities, when they do not know each other well, is often problematic (Snyder, Kleck, Strenta, & Mentzer, 1979; Stovall & Sedlacek, 1983). In the college context, data indicate that nondisabled students have negative attitudes toward peers with disabilities which

Reactions toward dating peers with visual impairments.

“…To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to have investigated thoughts about friends' reactions. Nevertheless, the overall findings are consistent with previous data which show that thoughts and feelings are more negative when the otherperson in acasual interaction has a disability Fichten, 1986;, that the nature of the disability has little effect on cognition and affect in nondisabled individuals (Fichten, Robillard, Tagalakis, & Amsel, 1991), and that decreasing social distance is associated with more negative evaluations (Grand, Bernier, & Strohmer, 1982;Weinberg, 1976).…”

Counselors', Rehabilitation Providers', and Teachers' Perceptions of Mental and Physical Disabilities

“…This discomfort and ambiguity, or interaction strain (Fichten, Robillard, Tagalakis, & Amsel, 1991;Gouvier, Coon, Todd, & Fuller, 1994), is often experienced by individuals without disabilities as decreased interaction with people with disabilities, including fewer conversations and less physical and eye contact (Livneh, 1982(Livneh, , 1983(Livneh, , 1991. To some individuals without disabilities, the effects of the disability are overgeneralized (or spread) to all aspects of the individual with the disability to the point that such individuals are discounted or underrated in general (Wright, 1988).…”

Affective Reactions to Difference and their Impact on Discrimination and Self-Disclosure at Work: A Social Identity Perspective

“…With the exception of some diversity studies that examined negative emotions, such as anger and frustration, as a proxy of the negative team process of relational conflict (Jehn et al, 1999;Pelled, 1996;Pelled et al, 1999), the link between diversity and employee feelings has been severely under-explored. In addition, there has been limited progress in understanding the role of affect in discrimination and prejudice (see Mackie, Devos, & Smith, 2000;Mackie & Smith, 2002;Sechrist, Swim, and Mark, 2003), and these few research efforts have focused mostly on the perspective of the stigmatizer (e.g., Fichten, Robillard, Tagalakis, & Amsel, 1991).…”